mthe blue proxy
by percyjacksonforevah
Summary: my friend wrote this and its really good


Slender Adventures!

**The Blue Proxy**

By: Lauren

A Creepy pasta fan fiction

:D

**Prologue**

It never occurred to Jeff that he would have vision anything as scary as he did. It all started one night while he was dreaming. Though most of he dreams were the horrible dreams that he usually enjoyed and loved, there was one dream that changed him, probably for forever. In his dreams, he saw mostly black at first, and then it got lighter until he was in a small town. He then saw that the city was on fire, and he saw people fighting and killing. He usually would have enjoyed this, but one thing almost tore him apart. He saw his usual friends, Ben and the others, fighting and brutally killing each other, and then they stared at Jeff, chanting his name.

"Oh, Jeff," Ben called, holding a knife in one hand.

Jeff tried to run, but he stopped at the sound of screaming. He saw Ben bleeding, and a girl standing over him, laughing a cruel laugh. Some guy in a black suit and a blood-red tie joined her. The weird thing about the guy was that his skin was paper white, and he had no head hair, and he also had no eyes.

"Oh, Jeff…." the man called to Jeff. "You wouldn't dream of hearting my dear Crystal, would you?"

That's when Jeff woke up. He immediately knew who that man was. He was one of the greatest Creepy pastas ever known. Most of the others tried to stay away from the guy, but Jeff looked up to him. He also knew his annoying, older brother, the Splendor man. He tried to calm himself down as he wrote the dream in his dream journal. He had been writing all his dreams in this notebook to see if the dreams would ever fit together, but so far it's missing a few pieces. When Jeff arrived at the meeting to get assigned a mentor, for he was a new guy at this whole 'Creepy pasta' thing, he saw Splendor there and explained everything to him. The guy knew a lot about dreams for some reason, and understands why Jeff was concerned.

"Maybe you _should _see my brother for assistance in this. This sounds really serious," he said, looking at Jeff.

"Maybe," Jeff said, but he was still uncertain.

Jeff would like to meet the brother, but he was a bit nervous.

"Oh, C'mon, let me take you to him. You can probably be his student, or, at least a partner. He wanted me to find someone with great killing skill, and you seem like the guy." Splendor explained, taking Jeff out of the meeting and on a long trail to the woods.

"Hey, Slendy, I've got you a new partner!" Splendor said, then pushing me in front of him.

Though Slender man was a little bit shorter than Splendor man, he was just as scary.

"Well, hello there," he said in a demonic voice. "Oh, sorry," he then said. He gave a little cough, and then continued in a calmer, more normal voice. "Yah, I use that voice when I'm on the job. So, you want to be my partner, huh?"

He then examined me, asked me a few questions, and then nodded his head.

"Yep, you're going to make a great partner. So, you said you had a, what, _dream_ of some sort?" he then asked.

Jeff then explained the whole situation to Slender man, who then looked concerned.

"Well, so how do we stop this?" Slender man, who Jeff was now calling Slendy, asked.

"Well, follow my ways, and we can survive together!" Jeff said, and then gave a demonic laugh.

**Chapter 1.**

_The Shadows_

The bell rang for me to go to my next class, which was language arts. As soon as I was leaving reading class, I asked one of my friends, Kat, what we were doing in that class, and in exchange, I'd tell her what she'd be doing in social studies. As son as I came up to Kat to ask my famous question, she stopped me short.

"You'll like what we're doing in LA" she said.

_LA_ is always what we called it.

"Let me guess, another writing prompt?" I said back.

"Yep" she said. "And it's for Halloween!"

"**YAY! **I love Halloween!" Was how I responded back.

I had always loved writing from the start, but writing about one of my favorite holidays was even better. I didn't ask any more, for that is all I wanted to hear. I rather keep the rest a surprise, since I love surprises as well. As soon as I was about to tell her about my next class, she had already walked out of the door. _I guess she likes surprises too_, I thought. I then went to the hallway, all the way down and to the right, and there was my next classroom to be in. Then, I say Gemm, my best friend. Not only did our names go together, but she also was the one to support me when I needed someone, and I did the same for her.

"Crystal!" Gemm called.

"Hey," I said. "How's it goin'"

"So, what news did you get from Kat?"

"Another writing prompt, this one about Halloween," I said.

"Well, perfect timing. I love Halloween so much, I can't wait!" she said.

"Me too, and I'm so glad we got a big group for it, we're gonna have so much candy! This is awesome!" I said back.

"Quick, sit back down, is here!"

was our teacher, and one of the nicest in my opinion, though everyone else thinks she's mean. It also helps, too, when you're the secret class pet. I couldn't help it; I was the only one who liked the subject in the first place.

"Now class, as some of you know, I'm giving out a writing assessment. But, this time, you may work with partners and pick anything that goes with the topic. The topic this time is Halloween." She said with a smile on her face.

Immediately, Gemm and I looked at each other. We nodded in agreement, what we usually do, and looked at again.

"Get with your partner, you'll be graded on grammar. It will be do in one week."

Gemm came over to me this time. She came rushing over, almost excited and as if she had a great idea. I wanted to share some of mine first, and she agreed. I suggested a scary story or a made up legend. She leaned her head to the one side and paused to think.

"I've got something that's like your legend idea," she said.

"What? Is it something interesting?"

"Oh yes," she answered back. "How about a research paper on a legend or myth? It could be anything creepy, and would be perfect!"

"You know what, that's not a bad idea!" I said

We agreed on the research paper, but then Gemm stopped short.

"We need to get more people for this, or else it would be hard." Said Gemm

"Let's ask if we can include people from many classes." I said.

We went up to her and, as usual, Gemm asked the question.

"Can we add people from different classes to join in on our writing?"

"What are you writing?" She asked.

"We are doing a research paper on a legend or myth, but we haven't decided which." Said Gemm.

"Well of Corse you can!" she said, then in a louder voice she told the class: "Now class, if you're doing a research paper, you can add people from different classes to help you. Please make sure that you research has some _chilling _moments!"

"I wonder what myth or legend we should do," I said right after.

"How 'bout we search up that at home, and we'll talk about it later. We don't have time now."

As soon as she said that, the bell rang and I headed for science class, thinking about whom to add in our group. There was Kat, Emma, Sunni, and Zack, Gemm's "boyfriend", as we like to call him. So, add that up, and we've got 4 people to add, so that leaves a group of 6, including me. That's plenty, and I don't think we need to add everyone in the _Slender Group_. We named our group after where our hideout is located, _Slender Woods_. Nobody really knows what the woods are named after, but we all agree that the hideout we found in the woods is perfect. It's a small cave in the side of the largest hill, and we all think it was an old bear cave. It looks in shape and we decked it out with old rugs, a food storage place with at least 20 filled chip bags. The place is a little creepy at night, so the last time I went there, I hanged Christmas lights all over the place, and they are so colorful and they twinkle is the coolest way. I know that the boys probably think it's pretty girlish, but I know deep down inside that they're glad to have the lights there so they can see. I was excited to go back, and I wanted to see how decked out it was from all the 12 people in our group bringing stuff. I can name everyone without a pause. There's Zack, Emma, Kat, Gemm, Sunni, Jake, Matt, Sarah, Fern, Cody, and Katy. That's also everyone in our Halloween plans, and I hope to see them all there.

I soon saw Gemm, Kat, Emma, Fern, Katy and Zack in afternoon class. Afternoon class is where we go when we come in and when we're going out. We all discussed about our plans tonight.

"I'm getting Cody, Matt, and Jake to go." said Zack.

"I'll make sure Sunni and Sarah are there." said Fern.

"I'll get the plans, like I always do. This includes Halloween and the writing paper." said Gemm.

"Kat and I will decide on the house list for the plans." said Katy, since Kat and Kate are twins.

"Emma and I will get the pillowcases for candy, since I know Emma has a whole lot from last year." I said.

"Crystal, how are you going to get pillowcases, you won't have any for your bed tonight!" said Emma.

"I don't need a pillow, I never use one in the first place!" I exclaimed.

"All right, but you're going to have to get at least 5, and the ones you use for decorations count!" she said.

"Then it's settled, you know what you're doing?" said Gemm.

We all nodded our heads at the same time.

"Good, then meet at the hideout at 6:00, deal?"

"DEAL!" we all said simultaneously.

The bell rang, and I headed out the door, and looked for bus 56, the regular bus I ride. The ride home wasn't long, since I was the 2nd stop. I went home and saw my mother was home. I told her about the plans and she agreed. She said to be back by 8:00, and everyone knew that we all had to be in by 8:00, since that's when the ranger close off the entrance to the woods so no wild bears get at us. I was ready to get going, when my mother stopped me.

"You're going to need a coat, it's cold tonight." She said.

"I'll be fine, trust me. Are you just worried about my safety?"

"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?" she said.

"Good point," I answered back.

I ran out the door and down the street. I then took a left, then a right, two more lefts, and I found myself at the entrance of _Slender Woods_. I walked the pathway that the group carved out, and in 3 minutes, I found myself at the entrance of the hideout. I could see the blinking lights from a mile away. I remembered when the ranger commented on our cave, and let us keep it as long as we cleaned up after ourselves, which we always did. Why, if we left the place a mess, we would find a few critters in the chip bags! There was everybody, with Gemm's plans laid across the floor and the house list next to it. Also, as I got closer, I could see that Gemm also brought a list, probably for our research paper. I said hi to everyone, and they all answered hi back.

"So, here are the plans for next week's 'candy bash', as I like to call it. We'll divide us up into three groups. We'll put the guys in one group, Emma, Sunni and the twins in another, and Fern, Crystal, Sarah, and myself in the other. We'll call the guy group 'Skulls', the twin group 'Ghost' and my group 'Cats'. Let's try to make a composition out of this. Whoever gets the most candy wins the Popper Jack!" she said.

A Popper Jack is a type of candy that is like a sizzling candy covered in a sweet white chocolate, and some comes with caramel. They discontinued it because they claimed it was too unhealthy, so it's rare to find them still around.

"Do they have the caramel in them?" asked Kat.

"I actually don't know, but I think they do." Gemm answered.

"I dislike caramel." Said Cody.

"I'll take it then." Said Zack.

"Guys, please, the winners will decide what they want to do with it, but if your going to throw it out, please give it to another person, these are hard to get, and these never expire!" Gemm said, as if they were jewels.

"Okay." Everyone said.

I couldn't wait for Halloween, and to have a Popper Jack, and I know that Gemm will be the one to get all the candy, with her candy witch costume that's so cute, no parent can resist giving her a little extra. The twins gave us the houses each group will get. Our group got street 4,5, and 6. Each group got a good street, but out of all, street 6 is the best. The Wickermans always have extra large chocolates, and they always could as two servings. Gemm said they should count as two candies, and everyone agreed; since that's all you get at that house. I'm sure that Team Cat can get those Popper Jacks, fair and square.

"Alright guys," Gemm finally says to break the jumbled up noise of us talking. "Now for the research paper. I was searching online for something, then I found this:"

The paper rolled out and she began to speak.

"I cannot tell you all that's on here, but I can tell you what it's about. I chose this because it might give us some answers to why are woods are named that way," she said in a confident voice. "It's this guy called _**the Slender Man!**_"

We all gasped at the sound of the name. We all had heard something like that once before with another kid they found dead in the forest, but found weird markings on him and he was from **way **out of town, who most people claim it was Slender Man who killed him, yet I never new what it actually was.

"It sounds like he came from our forest." Fern said, seeming a little scared.

"Of course it does, the myth originated around here. Most people claim it's just the way the leaves and bark on the trees, others say it's just shadows." Gemm told us in a calming sort of way.

"Didn't your brother claim he saw it?" asked Zack.

"I don't know what he saw, but he says he still has nightmares about it." Gemm said back in a snappy way.

Just then, a black cat walked into our hideout, sniffing the air and rummaging through the _Scrabble_ box.

"Hi, Zimmy!" I said, excited to see my little forest friend.

We all think that Zimmy is a lost cat from a special show, for he can take the letter pieces from _Scrabble_ and spell out words. The first word he ever spelt to us was 'Zimmy', which we all think is either his name or his owner's name. The cat can also spell out special sentences, which made us certain he was one of the smartest cats in the world.

"Zimmy, come here." I said, smiling at the perfectly groomed black cat.

Apparently, someone other than me has been grooming the little cat, and is being cleaned and taken cared of. He then trucked over with some letter pieces in his mouth. He laid them on the floor, which spelt 'HI CRYSTAL'.

"Hello buddy, how's it going? Did you miss me?"

The cat scrambled back in the box, and then put them on the floor. 'MY NAME IS NOT BUDDY AND I AM DOING FINE'

"You still have that cat? I thought he would be gone by now!" Gemm said. "He probably still has an owner, since they've been grooming him."

"Oh, shush it, Gemm, he's a nice addition to the _Slender Group_, don't you think? Besides, I like having a little cat around who can **spell!** Since when have you seen a cat do that?" Kat said to Gemm, supporting me.

"We're getting off track, what's this about this Slender guy?" Cody said to get us back on the topic.

"Oh, right, well, from what this paper says, it's this guy who goes around and eats kids under the age of 16." Kate answered back, looking at the paper. She must have been reading the whole time.

"That's, uh, interesting?" said Zack, who then pushed his black hair back away from his face.

"Uh, guys come out here and look at this, like, **now!**" Fern said, her pale face getting paler and her brown hair flowing in the wind.

"What is it?" we all answered back, but then we heard what sounded like talking. Creepy, creepy talking.

I rushed to the entrance, when I noticed two shadows where the mumbling was. One was a tall, slender one and the other was a whole lot shorter, but was moving around and look like it was flailing it's arms, or, something that looked like arms. All of a sudden, the thin shadow had some type of black thing shoot out from it, then yelling. I swore, I could've heard the one yelling saying "Put me down, FACELESS MAN!" and I knew I wasn't the only one, because Gemm had the same expression on her face.

That's when we ran back inside. We all called our parents on our phones, asking to stay in the hideout. Everyone's parents agreed, and we all hid in the back corner, waiting for the yelling to stop. That's when Zimmy went out towards the yelling, dashing as fast as he could.

"Aw, poor Zimmy's scared," I said, but a little too loudly.

At the name of Zimmy, the yelling immediately stopped, and the two shadows ran away.

**Chapter Two**

_Who's there?_

"They must know about the cat," Gemm suggested, "Otherwise the running away part would make no sense."

The next day, I found myself on the blue and purple beanbag, my blonde to almost-white hair in a tangled mess, and two bottom buttons on my plaid shirt undone. I quickly re-buttoned the shirt before anyone else could wake up and see me. I went through my hair with the 'emergency brush', as I like to call it. Gemm, Fern, and Kat woke up at the same time, with Katy close behind. Sunni woke up, then the boys, then Sarah and Emma. It looked nice out, so I took a step outside. I went to where we saw the shadows yesterday, and found nothing. That is, until I turned around. I saw Gemm watching me, lots of trees, and a note on the ground. The note said 'Middle of the Woods', and that was all.

"What **are **you doing?" asked Gemm as she watched me. "That's litter you're picking up, and it's just, _ewwww_."

"This note was on the ground where we saw those shadows yesterday. You've got to come over here and look at this." I soon said after.

Suddenly, everyone rushed over once I said about where it was. We all looked at it together, stunned.

"Middle of the woods, but nobody has gone there before, at least not any of us," said Fern. "Unless they're drawing us into a trap!"

"Calm down everybody," Gemm said. "Nobody's going to the middle of the woods, and besides, the rangers don't even go there. Now, let's just go home and see what we can put in our report, and I guess we can just do all writings, because the only pictures I found wouldn't be scary enough."

"Fine, but can I at least put the thing about the new guy in our school getting killed there?" Zack asked.

"Sure, why don't you be in charge of possible victims of it, and you can do any kid who mysteriously died in there." Gemm answered back.

"I'll do storyline!" I said quickly after.

"I was going to give you that anyway." Gemm laughed back. "I knew you would love to do a summery, but be prepared, the story takes a long time to read and there's a whole lot of good stuff in there."

Soon, everyone had a part. The twins were ordering information, Emma, Sunni, and Fern were doing fun facts, and the rest were going to pick out who says what and type it all up.

"Perfect, now let's all go home and work on it, I'm sure my mother must be worried." I said, and then we all left.

Zimmy followed me home, so I decided to sneak the _Scrabble _in my backpack, but only the letter pieces. As soon as I got home, I excused myself for being late and went upstairs with Zimmy. My mother was used to the cat, and she knew his special talent, so she wasn't surprised I was going into my bedroom to play with him. I carried my backpack and went down the hallway and into the room on the right, which revealed a medium-sized bedroom. The room had baby-blue walls with white, flowing curtains. The furniture was a dark, spruce wood and my bedspread matched the walls and had white poka-dots on it. I laid the pieces on the bed and put Zimmy up to see them. I soon asked him a couple of questions regarding last night.

"Where were you?"

'WHAT DO YOU MEAN' he spelled out.

"Where did you go when those shadows came out, and the yelling?"

'OH I WENT TO HELP SOMEONE' the cat 'said'.

"Who?"

'I CAN NOT TELL SORRY'

Great. Now the cat was keeping secrets from me. I just sighed and tried to do the next best thing to entertain myself. I sat down on the computer and began the research. It wasn't hard to find what I wanted, and I soon went to a website that told the story. It was long, just as Gemm had said. I began reading, and soon I was becoming more engrossed with it. By the time I was done, it was lunchtime already. I grab my favorite meal, a whole-wheat taco stuffed with peanut butter, a chopped banana, chocolate chips, and a tad bit of honey. Though it sounded gross the first time I've heard it, it's actually pretty good. After my little snack, I headed upstairs again and started to begin writing when the phone rang. It was Gemm who decided to call.

"Hey Crystal!" she said. "How's the research going? I decided to give everyone a call so that I knew they were on track. I hope I'm not disturbing you, am I?"

"No, of Corse not. I just started typing the summery, and I just came up with a few questions. Do you have time to hear them?"

"Of Corse I do! If I have time to call you, why wouldn't I have time to chat!" she said back.

"Great!" I answered.

As soon as I asked her about 15 questions, she finally said, "Okay, do you have all the information you need? I've got to get calling to some more people, so bye!" she said, and as soon as I said bye, I hanged up.

_Let's try to do this again, _I said in my head as I pulled the writing back up. _Okay, let's see, and what do I want to add? Maybe I should print the paper out and just __**highlight**__ what I want to add? _And that's exactly what I did. I added about five major ideas in the story, plus what it does and all that type of stuff. I didn't do looks because if I did, it would be like giving a picture to someone and telling them about it, which I don't want to do. Then, once I was done, my mother came home and I asked if I can download the game that goes with the story, but she said no because she was afraid it would ruin the computer, as most of the games I downloaded did. I sighed, but then I remembered Zimmy. _He must be hungry, the poor thing _I said to myself, and fed Zimmy some cat food I had downstairs when I kept Zimmy in the house that one weekend.

"Crystal, are you done feeding that cat? Then if you are, then come throw away this note I found on your desk, it's making your room reek." My mother said.

"Alright, hold on!" I answered.

Mom was right, it did reek. The note I found from the forest must've meet with a wild animal during the night, and in result, well, I rather not say. I then use a little bit of a freshener I usually use to get smells out of papers. It then had no bad odor and I threw it in my backpack. I then realized that Zimmy left a note on my bed that read 'A RESARCH ON SLENDER MAN IS A GOOD IDEA'. I was startled. I didn't realize he could read as well, and I texted my friends about it, and they were all surprised. I then got a good idea. _Maybe I should tape Zimmy doing these things, and we'd get a top hit online! _I decided to wait until later, maybe in a couple of weeks, so that there's an open window and it'll be perfect to do something like that in the hideout.

A week went pass, and it was time for the _Slender Group _to meet back up again. I was excited to see on how our paper is going to be like for Tuesday. We all handed our paper Cody for typing, and Emma, Sunni, and Fern explained the order to put the information in. One Cody packed it away in his bag, I then decided what to do next.

"Maybe we should give our hideout a name?" I said.

"Yah, maybe we should call it something like 'Hideout Slender'!" said Fern.

"What about _Slender Hideout_? It's the same words, but flipped around." Gemm said.

We all agreed on _Slender Hideout_, and then I told them about videotaping Zimmy.

"Maybe we shouldn't do that, because someone can come and take him away, and I know how much you love having him around. There's no other woodsy cat around here." Emma said.

She was right. Either the owner or someone who want's fame can take the cat with them, and any other cat that lives in the forests, as we like to call them woodsy cats, will never be as special as Zimmy was.

"Okay, but can we just not post it and save it for later?" I said.

"Maybe, and then save it for our **closest** friends outside of the _Slender Group_." Sarah said.

"Yah!" Everyone chimed in.

So, to start our little project, Gemm ran home to get a video camera, I went home to grab the _Scrabble_ pieces, and Emma went to grab a book. We were all excited to start our first video together, and I couldn't wait to start the video in the _Slender Hideout_! Once we had everything we needed, I decided to tell the group what our video should be about.

"Okay," I started. "So, what we are going to do is have Zimmy read the book, then tell us how he liked it. We'll tell Zimmy to meow for us to turn the page. Are we clear on that?"

"Yes, I think so!" said Fern

"Let's get started!" Gemm said excitedly.

The camera was starting to tape us, and the first thing I did was call for Zimmy. He jumped on my lap, and I scratched him behind the ears.

"Okay, Zimmy, we want you to read this book and tell us how you liked it once we're done. When you want us to turn the page, meow for us. Understand? Nod your head if you do."

He slowly nodded his head and I opened the book of nursery rhymes for him. After each page, he meowed until he was finished the book altogether.

"How did you like it?" I asked him.

He then went and dived into the pieces, and then he grabbed some pieces and spelled out 'IT WAS A LITTLE EASY FOR ME BUT I LIKED IT'.

That's when we stopped the video after telling the camera we didn't train him to do this and that he was doing it all on his own.

"Well, what should we do now?" I asked.

That's when we decided to get some paper to draw decorations on the hideout's walls. We then had a competition on whose was best, and Kat won. She drew a picture of trees in the forest in all different shades of green with crayons and colored pencils. That's when we decided to go home. It wasn't until the next day that we decided to come back in, when we noticed something different.

"Where did all our drawings go?" Gemm asked.

We didn't know who, or what, took them, but the only one left on the wall was Kat's, and her's had something different on it, but I couldn't tell what until I stared really hard at it.

"Um, Kat? Who's the guy in the background?" I asked.

"What? There's no man in the background!" she responded.

I then pointed to her the man in the black suit in the very back that appeared to be unfinished.

"Uh, it's probably the person who took all our drawings, maybe." Gemm wondered.

I started to look around when I realized there was a paper on the ceiling. I had Zack grab it for me, since he was the tallest in our group, and we flipped over the paper, hoping it's one of our drawings from yesterday. Instead, all the paper said was 'ZIMMY' written in red marker.

"But we didn't have any markers yesterday!" Cody said.

I looked around for Zimmy, Incase he had the answer for all this, but all I found was a message in the pieces that said 'GOT TO RUN'.

**Chapter Three**

_The Man in the Suit and Tie_

I quickly tried to follow Zimmy's footprints when I realized something horrible. At the end of his tracks, there were footprints.

"Zimmy? ZIMMY!" I called, worried about the little cat.

I heard a meow and Zimmy popped out. I quickly picked up the cat to take him to the letter pieces, but I thought I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around, but no one was there. I quickly ran back, and asked Zimmy who the footprints belonged to, but all he said was 'SOMEONE I KNOW'. I then got scared.

"Guys," I began. "I think someone's after Zimmy, and I don't think they want him for good, either." I said, frightened.

"You're right, young girl. GIVE HIM UP!" said a mysterious voice that no one knew who it belonged to. Everyone turned around, but only to find no one there. "Let's get out of here before someone get's hurt!" Gemm said. That's when I ran, but something catches my eye. I looked around, startled to see a horrific vision, even though it lasted only about five seconds. What I saw looked like a young boy, but with white skin and matted black hair. He wore a white hoodie and blue ripped jeans. He had no eyebrows and it looked like he carved his face into a smile, for the mouth was a bloody grin and his outline of teeth were frowning. I ran strait ahead, not even wanting to look back of that horrific boy who probably wanted Zimmy. I was screaming my head off.

"WHAT'S WRONG CRYSTAL?" Gemm shouted over her shoulder.

I didn't answer back until we were far away from the forest.

"I saw the guy who wanted Zimmy, and he was not a pretty sight." I said.

I described everything about him to my friends, and they were terrified.

"Wait a minute, let me pull something up. I think I might have something that looks similar to what you saw." Fern said, and she pulled her small, pink laptop out of the bag. After two minutes, she faced the picture around.

"That's **exactly** what I saw!" I said.

Everyone was stunned.

"Do you know who you just saw?!" Gemm said.

"No, I don't even know who the guy is." I answered back.

"That's one of the most famous internet myths of all time!" she said.

"Who?" I asked.

"His name is _Jeff the Killer _and you can look him up. I'm glad we got out of the forest when we did. He could've **killed** us!" Katy said.

Once everyone was to his or her own home, and I was in mine, I researched this Jeff guy up. The story was just as long as _Slender Man_ and I was almost certain the same guy wrote it, but it wasn't. To make a long story short, it was about this 13-year-old who was in fights with bullies, burned, bleached, and a whole bunch of other things. I was right about the smile being carved, though. They say that now he goes into peoples houses, waiting for them to wake up before saying 'go to sleep' and then killing them. I was so scared, I didn't even know if I wanted to go back to the hideout. I then called Gemm to decide what to do.

"Hey! So, did you read the story?" she asked.

"Uh-huh." I answered back. "I was wondering what we should do about the hideout now, since that guy is probably hanging around there now."

"Let's just wit until Halloween, that way he'll just leave thinking that we abandon it." she said.

"I'm not so sure, what if he followed me and knows where I live?" I asked, scared out of my wits.

"Listen," Gemm said. "If you're really scared about Zimmy, let's just have a sleepover at my house tonight and bring him. You can leave him here afterwards and give me that food you have in the basement. Okay?"

"Okay, but only because I want Zimmy to be safe." I said.

I was allowed to go, and I brought everything with me. Gemm greeted me at the door, and Zimmy and I walked through the door.

"I'm so glad you came!" she said.

"I'm just glad that you'll take Zimmy in while this horrific thing's going on." I said back.

We then played with Zimmy with the letter pieces.

'I LIKE IT HERE IT IS NICE' he spelled out as soon as he found the letters.

"That's great, and you know why you're here, right?" I said.

He grabbed more letters and spelled 'YES I DO KNOW WHY'.

"Does he know Jeff?" I asked Gemm.

"I don't know," she replied.

'YES I DO KNOW JEFF DON'T GET NEAR HIM' Zimmy spelled out.

"Well, there's our answer." I said.

"I guess that's the 'someone' he knew, but why was he trying to help him?" Gemm asked, facing towards the cat.

'I WASN'T TRYING TO HELP HIM I WAS TRYING TO HELP SOMEONE ELSE' the cat spelled out.

"Who?" I asked again.

'CANNOT TELL' Zimmy spelled out.

"Huh, I guess we'll never know." I said.

The sleepover was nice, even though we didn't go to bed until 12:00 at night. I was just glad that Zimmy will be safe and that I'm out of the house for a while, since my backyard connects to the woods. Soon, another week went by and Gemm and I finally got to share our project with the rest of our group.

"That's one spooky legend," said. "But you said you couldn't tell what it looks like, and why is that?"

"It's because it doesn't look that scary, and without a description, it makes your imagination go wild thinking about what it looks like." Gemm said.

"That's a good explanation. Can you give us a description?" the teacher said.

"From what we know, it's a guy in a black suit with tentacles. That's all I know, anyways." I said.

"Interesting. I shall read the story later." said.

"Be prepared," Fern said. "It's a **long **story. It took me a while to read it."

By the time the rest of the class finished their writing proportions, it was almost time to go home.

"And remember, class, to wear your costumes tomorrow for the candy give-a-way!" the teacher said as her last note of the day.

"I can't wait to dress up tomorrow! I'm being a black cat just like Zimmy!" I said.

"I can't wait to get into my purple witch costume." Gemm said.

"Kat and me are going as ghost! So are the rest of the girls!" Katy said.

"And the boys are going as zombies." Zack said.

Even though most of the girls are going as ghost, each one is going to be a different emotion, which I find very cool. Even though I wish I could join the group, I love my costume because it reminded me of Zimmy so much, and it does go well with Gemm being a purple witch. I also couldn't wait to see my cat again after that little incident with you-know-who. After finishing the very little homework I had, I noticed that Gemm was at the door with her little sister Jewel.

"Hi Crystal!" Gemm said.

"Hi!" Jewel said in a soft voice.

"Hey guys, what're you doing here?"

"I came to see your costume, I have mine and so does Jewel. Can we come in?"

After asking my mom, I said, "Come in!"

They came through the door, with them each holding a white bag.

Gemm pointed to the bag and said "Costume's in here."

"Oh," I said back. "Wait here and I'll get mine!"

After I found mine under the bed, which was crowded with a whole bunch of other stuff, I had Gemm and Jewel come in the bedroom.

"Wow, nice cat costume! Go in the closet and put it on!" Gemm said.

"Okay, hold on and wait here." I told them.

"Can we go in the bathroom to change into ours?" Jewel asked.

"Of course you can! Just be careful in there, the mirror's a bit wobbly." I answered, and then headed into the closet to change. The closet room used to be a small bathroom, but nothing worked in there, so we ripped it out and put in a walk-in closet that's big enough for three people and a young child all to sleep in. I quickly changed into a costume with a black long-sleeve shirt, a black sparkly skirt, black clip-on ears and a Velcro tail. As soon as I walked out, I saw Gemm and Jewel all dressed up. Gemm's costume was just like mine except her skirt was purple, she had no tail, and she had a pointy purple hat with black poka-dots instead of ears. Jewel was in a green dress with tinted green wings in the back and a crown with fake emeralds in it.

"I'm a fairy princess!" Jewel said, excited about her costume.

"How lovely, it looks so cute on you!" I replied.

"We should take these off now, mine's getting hot!" Gemm said, and then we quickly went back into either the bathroom or the closet to change back into our regular clothing.

"We brought Zimmy over, since I knew you'd like to have him now." Jewel said, taking the cat out of the bag, and everything I gave them for him.

"Is he alright?" I asked. "After traveling around it that bag?"

"He suggested we do it," Gemm said. "And besides, I think he just wanted to see you."

"Did you miss me?" I asked the cat.

Grabbing for the letters, he replied 'OF CORSE I DID WHY WOULD I NOT'.

I laughed a little, the asked "Did you have fun?"

'STAYING THERE WAS LIKE A LITTLE VACATION' he 'replied'.

"That's great! Maybe you should stay over there again sometime." I told him. "Now, how about you go take a nap, okay?" I asked him.

Zimmy nodded and headed for my bed, sleeping so soundly.

"Maybe when another incident goes on." Gemm joked.

"Maybe," I said. "Or maybe someone else can, like Zack or Kat."

We all stared at the little cat that was sleeping on the bedspread.

After the two sisters went home, I ate dinner, which was chicken tenders, and then I headed upstairs and searched around on the Internet. I then found where Jeff and Slender's story came from. It's from a site called _Creepy Pasta_, which made me laugh at the name. I was then reading up endless hours of this stuff until bedtime, making the darkness feel so eerie and spooky, that it was perfect for Halloween. I then went to bed, having weird dreams of each creepy pasta, but the weirdest part was those shadows we saw that one day, and then Jeff appearing, saying in the mysterious voice I heard in the woods last week, saying "Oh Zimmy, where are you, my pretty kitty?" in a creepy way. It just gave me the chills, until I heard the familiar pattern of beeping. My alarm had gone off. It was finally Halloween! I put on the cat costume and headed downstairs. I knew my mom was going to say something, but not what she said.

"Oh Crystal, where are you, my pretty kitty?" she said.

That just gave me chills, since she said it exactly like the dream last night.

"Your pretty kitty is right here!" I joked.

"Your costume looks beautiful!" she said, them kissed me on the cheek.

"Oh, Mom, you're always saying stuff like that about my costumes." I laughed.

I went outside, seeing on the side of the house a bit of spray paint in red saying "Zack Was Here". I could tell that it was not the Zack I knew, since he would never do that to me, and that it's probably Kyan's one friend. Kyan was Kat and Katy's big brother. Every Halloween one of his friends pranks our house and leaves no trace of them running off or coming there.

"I am still washing that up." My mom said.

I jumped because I didn't expect her to sneak up on me like that.

"Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to give you you're bag for later tonight. Have fun and have a good rest at the hideout!"

"Thanks!" I said back.

After we were going trick-or-treating, we were going to stay at the hideout. I couldn't wait to see who would win, plus the small prank we're planning for Jewel, for you see, every year we pranked her as a joke so she wouldn't be scared for the 'big kid stuff' later. It was all for her own good, since we didn't want her to be scared of something forever. My friends did the same with me the one year for the same reason, and I was glad they did. If they didn't do that prank, I probably would've never thought about going to the hideout.

"Hey, Gemm!' I called out as I see her walking down the opposite road.

"Hey!" She called back. "So, are you ready to get that Popper Jack tonight?"

"You bet!" I called to her.

We went in for morning class and we saw Zack first in a scary hippie-like zombie costume.

"That looks great, Zack!" I said.

"Aw, it's nothing much compared to yours, Crystal! The costume looks fabulous on you!" he said back.

All I could do was blush. It's not every day you here a boy call you fabulous. I thanked him for the compliment, and Gemm tapped my shoulder.

"I think he **likes **you!" she whispered.

"Yah think?" I whispered back.

"Of Corse he does, he never gives me compliments like that, and I was on his favorite girl chart!" she said.

Everyone thought Zack liked Gemm, but I guess he had another plan in mind.

"We'll see how it plays out." I said.

The rest of the day was just playing games and eating/getting candy, that is, until L.A.

"I'm going to tell you the best writing piece we had for the Halloween write, and the winner's goes up in the hallway." said.

"We've got to win this." Gemm silently mouthed at me.

"Oh yah!" I mouthed back.

Gemm and I both learned how to read mouthing for times like this.

"And the winner writing piece is," she said.

Everyone then did a drumroll on the top of the desks. Then wiped her hand away and hold the paper up in front of her so she can read it.

"The _Slender man _research!" she finally said.

My eyes widen, as Gemm and I both come up to claim our prize. We got giant chocolate bars, and then headed back to our seats.

"This piece won because it was the most terrifying myth ever! I read the full story, and I agree, that the looks would've given a not-so-scary feel to it. Great job!" she said, and then the whole class clapped so loudly, I thought the walls would shake.

It was then time to go home as the bell rang, and the whole group met outside the forest.

"You ready? Okay, everyone go in your groups!" Gemm said.

I joined with Gemm, along with Fern and Sarah. Sarah was 'the ghost of love' and Fern was 'the ghost of surprise'. They were such wonderful costumes, and the makeup was amazing.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Ready!" everyone else said.

We then headed off, going from house to house, grabbing as much candy as we could. We even broke the rules with the 'take one' candy bowls and took a handful instead. We got about 6 giant candy bars each, making us have a whole lot of candy. At the very end of it all, we joined back up at the hideout, finding all our pictures we've drawn the one day with a small note attached to it.

'I found these notes on the trees outside. I wanted to return them to you since I knew you would've wanted them. From, Ranger Dave.'

Ranger Dave was the ranger that loved our hideout so much that he wanted us to have it. I smiled remembering him, and then I dumped my candy into 'Group Cat's' candy pile for counting. After Cody and Kat counted the candy up, then they chatted for a little bit, then finally came to a conclusion.

"Okay, we have the winner. It was a tie between Cat and Skull, but in the end, we counted it up by most wanted candies. The winner is," Kat began.

"Team Cat! Nice job everybody!" Cody finished.

"I knew we could do it!" I told the girls as we ran up to get our Popper Jacks, and just by the looks of the wrappers, I knew they had caramel inside.

"I better save these for later," I told Gemm. "I'll eat it when I get home."

"Hey guys," Jewel said as she popped through the door.

We gave her a nice hello and then it was time. Time to start the prank. This year, we were going to get her to the edge of the middle of the woods, and then I'd come from behind the tree, saying 'BOO' after everyone thinks I'm lost.

"I'll be back shortly, probably in like, two minutes." I said, then ran out to the tree we planned for them to take me to. As I rushed out there, I realized there were so many trees that looked alike, so I decided to pick one. I wanted to wait there until I would hear something. After 10 minutes, I started getting worried. I decided to run from my post and find them. The problem was, I didn't know which way to go. I chose a narrow path and headed that way.

"Meow,"

"Huh!" I said, startled at the noise, but then I realized it was only Zimmy.

"Oh, I didn't see you there!" I said. "I think I'm going the right way, am I?" I asked, but sadly the cat said nothing. I was getting worried, and then realized that it was midnight, and I was lost in the middle of nowhere with nobody but Zimmy.

"Um, Zimmy?" I said. "I don't think I went the- hey! Where'd you go! Zimmy? ZIMMY! Oh dear! I'm lost and I don't know where I'm-"

I was so scared that I began to cry, and I couldn't stop. I sat down at the tree, trying to stop myself.

"May- maybe the- they can fi- find me th- this w- way." I stumbled as I was weeping. It was the only option I had, and to be honest, this was the first time **ever** that I've gotten lost. _Okay, Crystal_ I started to say to myself. _It'll be over soon. They're probably getting the rangers right now._ I was so upset, that I didn't even hear the footsteps coming up to me until they were a step close. I then felt a thumb wiping away my last tear, and I was glad someone found me. The only thing was, it was a stranger. At first I thought it was Gemm, but when I looked down, the hand was paper white. I looked up to a tall, slender man with a black suit on and a red tie. His face was white, and he had no hair. The scary part was that he was missing something on his face, but I couldn't place it. Then it finally came to me. The man, standing in front of me, had no eyes.

**Chapter Four**

_Zimmy the Talking Cat_

I was so sad about me being lost, that I was not even scared about the eyeless man. He appeared to be only about 4 years older than I was, and his mouth was in a calm grin.

It was all so calm, that is, until a knife flew behind me and hit the tree behind the man. The guy then sprouted tentacle-like things from his back, holding whatever it was behind me.

"What's wrong with you?" said the voice behind my back. "Are you going to **kill **her or not? She and her friends know about Zimmy!"

I quickly turned around, and I recognized the face. It was that boy that terrified me the one day. It was whom everyone in the group thought it was Jeff the Killer!

"Oh, hello girl! So, we meet again!" He said.

I was so scared that I backed away as the man who was in front of me was holding him with those tentacles.

"Stop it, right now, you guys!" said another voice. "Crystal, get out of the way!"

I turned around at the sound of my own name, but all I could see was Zimmy.

"Zimmy! Your back! Where'd you go?" I asked the cat, and then forgot he had no way to communicate with me, or so I thought.

"Crystal, get away! You need to back away!" the cat said.

I was surprised that Zimmy could even speak, but I did what he said and hid behind the tree while the fight went on.

"Let me down, you know I have the knife!" Jeff hollered, but the man wouldn't let go.

"C'mon, Crystal, let's get out of here!" the cat said, and started running for the hills.

"But how can you-"

"No time for questions, and don't worry, he'll take care of Jeff for ya." Zimmy said, and nodded towards the man.

"But, why would he-"

"Crystal! You need to get back, and- oh no!"

It seemed like Jeff got free of the tentacles and was running strait towards me. The man looked surprised, tried to catch him again, then looked strait at me.

"Run." was all he said.

And that's exactly what I did, and I followed strait after the cat, leaving the man and Jeff behind. We then got so close to the hideout, but then Zimmy turned away a little bit.

"Hey," he said. "If it makes you feel better, do you want to sneak up on your friends there." He pointed a paw towards where I originally was hiding, and I saw my friends coming for me, sounding worried as they speak.

"She must've picked the wrong tree! Oh, Crystal, where are you?" I heard Gemm say as she looked behind each tree.

"Well, go on, scare the living daylights out of them," he said, encouraging me to prank them.

"Alright, I'll do it for you!" I whispered to him.

I took one step after another and screamed at the top of my lungs. My friends were all screaming, and then they turned around.

"Looks like the prank's on you! I picked the wrong tree and I waited so long and tried to find my way back. I was so scared, until I-" I started to say to my friends, but then I stopped myself, not wanting to reveal that I was crying or the fight.

"Until you what, Crystal?" Jewel asked.

"Until I followed Zimmy home. That cat is really smart, you know." I answered.

I then looked at the cat, who was proud of me for cutting some of the story off. He then winked at me, like it was our little secret. I know I don't like keeping secrets from my friends, but this time, it was as if something told me to not tell anyone about my experience with, whoever he was.

"Crystal," Gemm finally said to break the silence. "Are you alright? You looked like you've been crying."

"Well, remembered how I started to say I was so scared," I said.

"Oh, it's okay, Crystal, everyone gets so scared sometimes that that's all thy can do. Anyway, we heard some yelling at that hill over there, and it sounded like the voice we heard the one day. I thought you were in danger!" she said, pointing to the hill where I was.

We then headed back to the hideout, but I stayed outside and around the corner so I can ask Zimmy a few questions.

"How can you talk?" I asked Zimmy as soon as I saw him.

"Well, you know that guy that you saw on the hill?"

"The one in the suit?" I said.

He nodded, and then said, "That's my owner. You know Jeff, of Corse, from that one night, and that was his old partner, until he went a little crazy in the head and he wanted my owner to kill every child that's 16 or younger."

"But, I'm 16!" I said. "Is that why he wanted to kill me?"

"Sort of," the cat said. "It's mostly because he want's me for power, and you're the only ne who stands in his way, well, you and my owner."

"So, _how_ can you talk, again?" I asked for the second time.

"Oh, right, right. Sorry, I got side tracked with your questions." He said. "It's because my owner touched you in a kind way, so now I can speak whenever you're in my present." he said.

"But, who _is _your owner?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, I cannot tell. I'm not allowed to, otherwise there's big trouble for me." the cat said mysteriously and worryingly.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense. Can I tell my one friend about it?"

"Only one, and I know it's probably Gemm, right?" he said.

"Yah, only so I can find out who this guy is."

"Okay." he answered back, and I walked into the hideout.

"So, Crystal, did you see anything weird?" Gemm asked.

"I'll talk to you about it later," I said whispering in her ear. "The rest might not believe me."

"Okay, then later tonight when almost everyone has gone to sleep, and we'll go outside and talk about it," she said. "Otherwise, it'd be too obvious. We were all wondering where you ran off to when you didn't come inside."

"I was talking to Zimmy." I said.

"_Talking_, or having him spell out stuff with those letters?" Gemm wondered.

"I'll tell you later," I said, looking at Zimmy and knowing that he understood that he's going to have to help me on this one.

Later that night, everything was okay, probably because Jeff was still wrapped up with Zimmy's owner. Almost half the people were asleep, and the rest about to, when Gemm and I went outside.

"Okay," she said. "What the heck happened that you could only tell me about?"

"We'll, be prepared to listen to the strangest story ever." I said.

I told everything, without an interruption, unless you would count opening your mouth really wide. By the time I was done, Gemm was so stunned that her eyes were as big as saucers.

"Want me to prove it to you?" I said.

"Prove what?" Gemm asked.

"Prove that Zimmy can talk? It's so you know I'm not a liar." I said back.

She nodded, and I called the cat over.

"Zimmy, can you tell me if you like your new food or not? I need to know if I should keep it or not for you." I asked the black cat.

"Of Corse I do! It's the best thing I ever had!" Zimmy said, and Gemm's mouth was opening wider and wider.

"What?" Zimmy asked. "You act like you've never seen a cat before!"

"Bu-but th-that's n-not p-possible!" Gemm stumbled in amazement.

"Oh, yes it is, my dear Gemm, and you better believe everything Crystal is saying, for it is one-hundred percent true." Zimmy said in a smirk.

"So, please, tell me what the man looked like again, so I know how to help you," she said.

"Well, he was a tall, thin man in a-"

"Yah, I've got that, and that's all. So what's the rest?" Gemm asked again, a little annoyed.

"Oh, sorry, let me try again." I said. "He had white skin, no eyes, and-"

"Stop right there!" Gemm said. "Give me a minute. I think I have you're person!"

She then reached into her back pocket and pulled out her emergency phone for homework and emergency calls. She then scrolled around on her phone for a few minutes, waited about ten seconds, and then handed me the phone. I looked at it, stunned to find a picture that looked exactly like the man I saw. I showed it to Zimmy, and he nodded in approval.

"This is him," he said. "That's my owner. Oh, and look at that, they made a game about him! How clever," pushing his paw around the phone, he gazed at the pictures and words.

"So, who is it?" I asked.

"Well, you know the research we shared yesterday?" she reminded me.

"Yah, the one on that legend, Slender Man." I said as it rejiggered my memory.

"Well," she said. "You've just encountered a first hand experience with him."

**Chapter Five**

_Slender Friend_

"What! It was Slender Man!" I said, for this time it was my mouth that was gaping wide open.

"Yep," Zimmy said. "Good ol' Slendy, taking care to Jeff almost every week."

"But, I thought he-" I started.

"Remember," the cat started. "It was Jeff who almost physically made him do that stuff, and he finally got tired with it. And it's all because Jeff somehow got this 'vision' of world domination."

"WHAT?" I said, so confused that it was hard for me to put all the pieces together.

"Yah, it'll all make sense later. Right now, all I want you to do is to steer clear of Jeff for a while, he's still mad that you took ownership of me and he thinks I'm a traitor. Slendy's just glad that someone else is helping to protect me, and that Jeff will soon learn that I'm not going to be his." Zimmy said, rambling on and on about his owner.

"Wait, so you call him Slendy?" I said, almost making myself laugh.

"Well, only I can right now, but you probably can, just not around him until you get to know him, for he's not that bad." Zimmy said.

"Okay, _Slendy's cat_!" I said, and then laughed myself silly until Zimmy was so pissed off.

"Oh, brother," Gemm said, watching me roll on the ground in pain of myself laughing so hard.

"Now, c'mon, let's go get a good night sleep," Gemm said to Zimmy, leaving me crying on the ground with laughter.

"Oh, wait. Hold up, guys!" I said as I followed them back to the cozy hideout.

When I woke up, everyone else was sleeping and my eyes were dreary. I then heard Zimmy outside, and some other weird noises, so I went to go look. I went out the small, cave entrance and exit and I saw Jeff trying to throw knives at Zimmy, while the black cat was shooting a streak of lasers out of his mouth in different colors.

"OMG, you shoot lasers, too?" I said, and then they both stopped, with Zimmy slapping a paw to his face.

"Ah, look who I've found again. What's you're name again, kid?" Jeff said.

"Her name's Crystal." Zimmy said, his paw still to his face.

"Oh, what a _lovely _name!" Jeff said sarcastically. "What, I guess you were looking for your cat to curl up with you? Aw, ain't that **sweet**."

"Stop it." I grunted, my jaws clenching together.

"What, still confused about last night? You should be, for it's a lot to take in, kid," he said.

"Stop calling me _kid_, plus, I'm, like, three years older than you." I said.

"Oh, looks like Crystal doesn't wanna be friends. Well, we can- YOW! Watch it cat, or you're gonna have a knife in your head soon." He said as the cat shot a laser of red at him.

"Shows you right for mistreating a young girl." Zimmy said, winking at me. "And besides, once Slendy hears about this, he'll-"

"I know what he'll do!" Jeff snapped, and then walked away, leaving us alone.

"So, I guess Jeff tried to stalk us again," Gemm said. "And Zimmy shoots rainbow lasers now?"

"There not rainbow!" the cat said. "They just have different colors for different laser, for one laser may hurt more that another, although it does go in order by the color of the rainbow, like red is the least hurting and purple is the most."

"You're rambling again," I told the cat.

"Uh, sorry, I'm not used to telling information to a new person," he said. "Usually it's Jeff or Slendy who does that."

"Makes sense," Gemm said.

"Whoa! Don't do that to me!" I said after being scared out of my wits from Gemm just appearing right behind me from out of nowhere.

"Oh, sorry!" she said. "I heard Jeff out here and I just wanted to get him away."

"Oh, no need to worry, for _I _can do that." Zimmy said.

"Of course you can," I said sarcastically. "And how did you get lasers?"

"Oh, well, you see, I'm suppose to protect my owner, so this is the magical power I chose to protect." he said. "Well, better go see him, before Jeff sneaks up on him again."

"May I go with?" I asked. "I need to thank him for saving my life!"

"Wait until tomorrow," the cat said. "He's probably going to be busy with you-know-who."

"Right," I said back. "Gotcha."

Gemm and I headed back to the hideout to see the others. I kept watching my back just incase Jeff appears out of nowhere, but I was satisfied to see that he wasn't.

"So, are we going to tell the others," Gemm asked.

"About Zimmy and the others?" I said. "Nah, I was only allowed to tell one person, and that person was you."

"Makes sense," she said. "Cuz why would Zimmy want a whole bunch of people to know? It's more chance of someone getting killed."

"No one's getting killed!" I said, but a little too loudly.

"What's this about killing?" Zack said, starting to wake up.

Since Gemm and I were so loud, we woke everyone up.

"Oh, sorry, it's only for me and Gemm. If the rest of you guys know about this, it's a greater chance of danger." I said to them.

"Oh, you could tell Gemm, but not us?" Fern said. "What about trustworthiness in the group?"

"We're sorry, but Crystal's right. It's only for us and someone could be killed if we tell all of you." Gemm said.

"Fine," Cody said. "Looks like our group is being split up between you two."

"Hang on, Cody. No one is being split off from our group." Zack said. "If it's going to put us in danger, then it's best to leave it as it is. We don't understand because we don't know the situation, and they can't tell us the situation because it's basically telling us the whole story."

"Exactly!" I said.

"But we're suppose to be a team!" Kat said.

"We still are, but this is only between me and Crystal." Gemm said.

"If that's really the way it goes-" Zack began.

"Hi-ya!" said a mysterious voice.

Jeff came through the door, one knife in each hand, his eye twitching.

"So, Crystal, is it really _that_ hard to keep a secret." he said as he came through the opening. "Say, nice hideout, you guys did a swell job. Mind if I come in?"

"Guys," I started, "It's time to RUN!"

We all ran for the exit, but then stopped by a demon dog.

"Aw, hey Smiley!" Jeff said to the dog. "Wanna help me do some _killing_?"

My mouth began to quiver as we are stuck between the hellhound and the murderer.

"Aw, c'mon Crystal! Don't you wanna _play_?" Jeff said, then laughing right after.

"Crystal? CRYSTAL!" said a voice from the outside.

"Dang it, cat, can you leave me and the girl along for five minutes, I'm doing something here!" Jeff yelled at the wall so the person, who I assume is Zimmy, can hear us.

"Is there a park ranger outside?" Zack asked.

"Nope," I said. "It's Zimmy!"

"I'm coming, kid! Hang on!" said the voice as it came around the side and into the opening.

Suddenly, a yellow laser shot as the dog, almost hitting him, and making the dog run away.

"Come back here, Smiley!" Jeff called as the dog ran off.

"C'mon, Jeff, leave the kids alone!" said a small, black cat who ran through the opening.

"ZIMMY!" I cried out to the cat as he came in.

"Don't worry Crystal, just get your friends out of here and I'll take care of everything!" Zimmy said, and then shot a red laser at Jeff.

We all made a run for it and went through the exit.

"How can Zimmy talk and shoot lasers!" Zack said, taking a breath after each word.

"It's a long story," I said, also breathing after each word, tired from running.

Everyone was so tired, that we were all rapidly breathing after each word.

"That was Jeff!" Katy said, lying on the ground from running so much.

"We have to go help Zimmy!" Sarah said.

"No, he can take care of himself." I said.

"Hey," Emma called to us. "Who's that guy moving into our hideout?"

I looked, and suddenly realized what she meant. There was a tall, dark figure with white skin moving into our hideout. I realized it was only Slender, as I'm going to call him now, going to keep Jeff under control.

"Oh, that's just Zimmy's owner, but he's cool about me taking care of his cat." I answered.

"Oh," said Fern. "Well, he's really tall!"

"Yah," I said. "I don't think he really want's to hurt us, so we should be fine."

I then smiled while looking at the hideout. Zimmy was right; he was being busy with Jeff today. I then heard a yell come from the hideout, and this time, I could make out what he was saying.

"Put me down, Slendy, and I'll promise to leave the girl alone. Aw, c'mon, let me down! Slendy, SLENDY! Aw, please, c'mon!" I heard Jeff say with a pause between each sentence.

"Who's _Slendy_?" Jack asked.

"It's kind of like a nickname for Zimmy's owner.

"Oh," he said back. "So what's his real name?"

"That," I said, "is a very good question. I'm afraid I cannot tell you, because I'm not allowed!"

**Chapter Six**

_Missing Zack_

I then watched as the dark figure carried Jeff away with his tentacles, and Zimmy come strait for us.

"So, now you know I can talk and shoot lasers, anything else you need to hear?" Zimmy said to the group.

"Um, why are you talking now, and you didn't before?" Kat asked the little cat, and everyone was agreeing with her that they'd like to know.

"Crystal, would you like to re-tell the story to them? Include everything I said except my owner's name. That they will figure out themselves." Zimmy told me.

And so, I re-told the whole story starting with me getting lost and ending with me scaring the pants off them, which I still laughed when I told them that part.

"Wow, Crystal, no wonder you didn't want to tell us!" Zack said, and everyone nodded in agreement.

"I'm glad I finally did, though, for I felt like you were going to split the group in half!" I said, glad that everyone finally understands.

"So, I guess you're going back to thank him?" Gemm asked.

"Zimmy's taking me tomorrow, but I don't know the right words to say," I stated.

"Just give him something, you know, like I do with you!" Kat said.

"But what? I don't even know!" I said.

"I've got something!" Zimmy said, and handed me a small packages full of animal skins. "Just leave a kind note and I'll put it by his doorstep, so I can save you the trip."

"No," I said. "I'll do that, in fact, I'll _give_ it to him. Would that be fine?"

"Well," Zimmy said. "You've got to meet him _sometime_. He might not speak much, though, for it's going to take a while for that."

"So, then you'll take me there?" I asked.

"Yep, tomorrow morning. Right now, we need to get you home. Jeff can pop out any moment."

"I know," I said to the cat. "I've learned that the hard way!"

I then went home and tried to find something else to do to pass the time. I've put some food in the package, with Zimmy's help, of Corse, and then sat down at my desk and looked through it to clear it out.

"Oh, I remember these!" I said as I grabbed out a pieces of paper from my drawer that was attached to the desk. The paper had pieces of music written on it, and lots of not so neat bar lines.

"It's the one tune I wrote for the piano! It had such a lovely tune, and I should write another!" I said, then took out a bunch of papers, wrote more bar lines and started composing.

I have always loved music since I was a little girl. I used to be able to play a variety of instruments, but my favorite was the piano. Zimmy watched as I scribbled some notes down, and when I finally completed it, it was a true masterpiece.

"I didn't know you loved music!" Zimmy said. "I've only heard you play the piano once! At least I know how to play the piano-"

"You know how to play?" I said.

"Well, Slendy taught me how, and it's actually pretty simple with my sized paws." The cat said. "Mind if I play one of your pieces?"

"Oh, sure! I would love to hear it again!" I said as I grabbed out the piano for him.

He then warmed up a little, pressing notes, straitening the paper, and then he began. It was a cute little tune, and I was glad to hear it again for the first time in three years. I was then writing more music, going faster than I normally did.

"You should make up some words for this tune!" Zimmy said.

"Maybe, and I finished this one!" I said.

"Oh, how I missed playing this thing!" Zimmy said. "It's been years since I've learned how. Oh, it was so much fun back then!"

That night I was writing music piece after music piece, then storing them away in my bag for later.

"You said that your owner taught you how to play," I said. "Does he play himself?"

"Once in a while, when Jeff and his buddies are around." the little cat said.

"Was that dog one of his friends?" I asked.

"Who, Smile? Yep, and that dog can change into a normal husky, so watch out!" Zimmy said.

"So, I guess he doesn't play anymore, since Jeff's gone crazy?" I asked.

"Pretty much, otherwise you would've heard some when you went into the hills last night."

"I still wonder why he came to me," I said. "Did you get him?"

"I had to, Jeff was around. With him coming up to you like that, that was all on him. He normally doesn't do that." the cat said, looking out the one, small window I had in my room.

"Oh," I said. "I was just so scared last night that I would've been killed by Jeff without him." I said.

"I know, that's why I got him. I guess he just felt bad." Zimmy said softly.

I looked out the window that viewed the backyard. After the nicely cut grass of my property, was a fence with barbed wires to keep us and animals away from each other in safety. After the fence, it was the woods. I then looked away, and wrote the note for the package. It was just a simple note saying 'Thank you for saving me'. I then went to bed, with Zimmy curled up to me. I never realized how soft the cat really was, and how warm he was in the cold night. The next morning, I headed for the sidewalk to start yet another day of school. It was already Friday, and I knew that meant staying out at the hideout one again tonight. I just hoped that Jeff wouldn't ruin it again!

Then, in the blink of an eye, it was all over and I was ready to go to the woods. I met Zimmy outside, holding the food packet.

"Where do you think you're going, Crystal." said a familiar voice.

"Oh, Kyan, what are you doing here!" I said, surprised to see the twins' older brother coming to our school.

"I came to pick my sisters up, and you know you still owe me something for that little incident." he said, antagonizing the pants off of me.

"What incident?" I said.

"Oh, the one where I happen to save you from one of my friends, you know what I'm talking about. And I don't want anything, I want that cat!" Kyan said, making me jump.

I knew what he was talking about, but I didn't know that he knew about the cat.

"I'm sorry, this cat doesn't really belong to me," I said.

"Oh, then I guess I'll just take whatever I can find out of your pack!" he said, ripping off my backpack, and taking out my notebook.

He then ran away, strait to the front of the school.

"Are you alright?" Zimmy asked.

"I'll be fine, that notebook is blank, anyways." I said, and then headed to the forest.

It didn't take long to find Zimmy's master, but he was surprised to see me there.

"Um, I just wanted to thank you, for that one day," I said, a little nervously. "So, I brought you this."

He then looked at me, and then took the packet. He went behind the tree, eating the food.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

"Oh, sir, that girl is grateful to meet you. We must be off, for she has to go." Zimmy said, and got a nod from his master in return.

"Going so soon? Slendy, why are you out? I have been looking for you around the house, you know." Jeff said, popping out from behind the tree.

"Everyday, Jeff, you do this, and yet I stop you every time. You should just give up!" Slender said, as he popped out from behind the tree, and grabbed Jeff, again, with those black tentacles.

"We're going," Zimmy said. "I think you'll do alright on your own, sir."

Slender nodded, then Zimmy and I started to take off.

"What's this," Jeff said, grabbing my pack. "Oh, you have been writing music, have you?" He said, then tarring all the music paper in half.

"You stop that!" I said in horror.

"Hey, Slendy, cool it on the grip," He said, but as I could see, the rip only got tighter until he dropped my bag.

"You should probably go," Slender said.

"Yes, of Corse, sir." Zimmy said, and once again, we ran off.

"Why did Jeff have to do that, I worked hard on those pieces!" I said, almost about to sob.

"It's okay," Zimmy said, nudging my cheek with his head. "Next time I see him, I'll try to shoot my most deadliest laser at him. Of Corse, that could blow up the place, so I'll use a blue one instead."

I smiled. I knew that Zimmy probably meant it, and will try to do it sometime, but I knew that I would have to rewrite those pieces all over again. I sighed, but then I noticed we were close to the hideout. My friends were all there, and noticed I was almost crying again.

"I hate what Jeff did to my writings," I said. "I can't believe he would do such a thing!"

"It's okay, Crystal, we'll help you rewrite those right now!" Gemm said, and everyone took out a piece of paper, while Gemm assigned what papers each person will do.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you all!" I said, so happy that they wanted to help me.

I then realized something. One of my papers with a shorter tune on it has gone missing. I couldn't even remember what it sounded like, but I knew that it would only make it worse to remember it again. When I told Zimmy about the missing page, he went out to look for it. I didn't see him until it all the pages were done.

"Any luck?" I asked.

"None," he said. "I'm so sorry about your missing work."

"It's okay, I'll just make another short tune. It's not that hard." I said, and took out a paper and pencil, and scribbled the first thing that came in mind. It took me a while, but I managed to do it. The song, though it was short, was extremely complex and hard. I then took out my mini piano that I carry incase I wanted some music anytime, and played the piece I wrote. The music was so hard that I couldn't get the first measure out correctly. Everyone tried it, and even Zimmy, but no one could get it out right.

"I'll try to go slowly," I said, then put my fingers down to the right places.

I was amazed that going slower worked, and that it sounded wonderful.

"WOW!" Gemm said. "I can't believe you even wrote that. It's just, WOW!"

"Thanks, now all I need to do is practice a little bit, and I'm sure I'll be able to play it faster sometime. Just let me keep going." I said, and to my surprise, they wanted me to keep going.

By the end of the night, I played it so fast that it was faster then what was written.

"You should publish that," Gemm said.

"Yah!" Everyone else chimed in.

"Well, how do I do that? I would love to make this famous!" I said.

"Let's submit it online!" Fern said, taking out our pink computer.

It didn't take long to send it out, and it didn't take long for someone to publish it. I was so overjoyed when the person who first wanted to have my music was a famous musician! He was amazed that I was only in 10th grade and wrote a piece that even an adult couldn't come up with! I was so happy, that we even took video of me playing it and then send it out to the Internet. I've got millions of reviews in one night, and I knew that I had just made my piece famous.

"Now, for a name for this piece," I said.

It didn't take long to come up with the name, for I named it _Slender Woods_, since the piece was so eerie, but elegant. I loved the song, and even kept playing it throughout the night.

I then woke up the next day, and we were hanging out, besides the fact that Jeff tried to kill us again. But, right on cue, Zimmy held him off long enough for Slender to take him and squeeze the living daylights out of him. Yet, day after day, when school's out, I would follow Zimmy and go see Slender, just for the fun of it. We've gotten so used to seeing each other, that I wasn't even nervous at all around him. I even started to call him Slendy, now, and he's gotten used to it. Then, finally, while we were sitting and watching the sun go down, like we do every day, and shared stories, I had a great idea.

"Hey, Slendy. Maybe I should introduce you to my friends, you know, since they see you a lot know that Jeff comes by, like everyday." I said.

"Yah, you're right," he said. "It's time to get to know them. I've been with you for like, a month now."

"Yah," I laughed. "But let's do it in a fun way,"

"You don't mean prank them, do you?" he said. "Aw, Crystal, now we're getting to some fun!"

"Of course I want to get some fun! Why wouldn't I? You should've seen Halloween when they were searching for me and I popped up right behind them!" I said, and we both laughed.

"You know, it's not a bad idea," he said. "And I've got the perfect plan…."

I ran back to the hideout, with my friends standing in there, waiting for me.

"How long have you've been out there?" Gemm said. "You've been gone for **three hours**!"

"Oh, sorry." I said sheepishly. "I got carried away with, err, someone."

"Who?" Fern asked.

"Him," I said, pointing to the back wall, and Slendy appeared out of know where.

Since Slendy's old job was to scare people, he had to turn invisible to hide. With him following me in being invisible, he easily got in without a problem.

"Hey, guys, have you've seen Zimmy?" he said, but everybody, except me, ran out of the hideout, screaming their heads off.

"Oh, Zimmy's right here," I said, opening my backpack to reveal the black cat hidden in there.

"Looks like you've let the cat out of the bag!" he said, making a corny pun.

"Ha, ha, _very_ funny!" Zimmy said sarcastically and not amused.

"Aw, c'mon Zimmy, not in the mood?" I said, but all the cat did was storm out of the room, waving his tail at us.

"Huh," Slendy said, "he's never like that. Mostly it's Jeff who's like that."

"I don't know, but apparently he didn't like the bag, either," I said, taking the bag outside and dumping out the cat vomit that was in there. I went to go back, but Gemm stopped me.

"WHO THE HECK WAS THAT IN THERE!" She yelled at my face.

"Oh, that's Zimmy's owner." I said. "So, we'd pranked you good, huh?"

"This is no time for jokes, Crystal! We saw Jeff out here and Zack just went missing!" Cody said, scared out of his wits.

"WHAT!" I said, stunned. "Hold on, you guys, I'm getting help for this.

**Chapter Seven**

_Splendor Man_

I ran strait into the hideout, told Slendy what happened, and he ran strait out, looking for Jeff.

"Can I come, too?" I asked.

"No," he said. "It's too dangerous."

"But you're going to need someone to get Zack out, if Jeff did kidnap Zack, since you'll scare him away." I said.

"Fine, since you've got a good point." he said, and I followed him until I spotted Jeff. He was under a tree, eating the apples from it, with Zack tangled in the branches.

"Another apple, my good man," Jeff said, and immediately after, Zack handed him an apple.

I decided to go for a clueless approach, making me seem like I didn't know Jeff was there.

"Zack, Zackary." I called out loud enough for Jeff to hear.

"Foolish girl, do you want to spend a day up in the trees with your friend, here?" Jeff asked me in the joking way he always talks.

Since Slendy was invisible besides me, Jeff thought I was alone.

"I'm going to go and surprise Jeff, while you just try and get Zack down. Got it?" Slendy whispered in my ear.

I nodded, and then headed for the tree. It didn't take me long to figure out how to get Zack down, who was terrified and worried.

"Uh, hey Slendy, um, want an apple?" I heard Jeff nervously say, but I knew that Slendy would have him up in knots in about five seconds.

"That guy's with _you_?" Zack asked.

"Keep your voice down, I'm trying not to get caught." I whispered to Zack.

"So, where's Zimmy. I thought he'd fry me to bits by now." Jeff said, but it was not helping him escape Slendy's grasps.

I then finally got Zack free, and we climbed down the tree and Zack ran for cover, while I stayed and watched the action. Jeff was trying everything, from talking him out of it to biting the tentacles, but it looked like he was going to be squeezed to death. Then, Slendy just tied him up in the tree, and then come back for me.

"How long will he be trapped up there?" I asked.

"About a day," Slendy said.

I laughed a little, watching Jeff being trapped up there, struggling to break the branches of the 'tree jail'. I then looked for Zack, who was hiding behind the bush in front of me.

"Zack, what the heck are you doing?" I asked.

He pulled me down into the bush. I tried to shove him away from me, but with little success.

"Where'd you go, Crystal?" I heard Slendy say.

I tried to say something, but Zack covered my mouth while he pushed me back. I then managed to pull away the hand.

"What the heck's wrong with you?" I shouted, giving off where I was.

I then stood up, dragging Zack behind me.

"I'm right here," I said. "Look's like Zack's just being a scared little cat." I said, still tugging Zack behind.

"Let me go!" Zack said, struggling to get free.

"I've got him," Slendy said, grabbing a leg with a tentacle.

Zack was screaming his head off the whole time Slendy and I were talking about different things. From school to a whole bunch of other stuff, we always got into interesting topics. I learned that it's not easy being a kid with no face. He told me he was often picked on, and that Zimmy was suppose to be a prank, but it went wrong and it became his only best friend as a kid. I often felt bad with he stories, but he claims it's no big deal.

"So, how's the music thing coming along?" he finally asked.

"Pretty well," I responded. "I'm working on about five pieces so far, and the one I submitted has become really famous."

"Wow, you're busy with that," he said.

"Yah, but it's actually kind of nice, ya know. It takes up a lot of free time when I have nothing else to do." I said, smiling a little.

We then came up to the hideout, with Zack still screaming like a little girl.

"Hey, we're back!" I said.

"Good, you've found Zack," Gemm said, not surprised to see Slendy with me.

"Well, kid, brace yourself," Slendy said, throwing the kid on the ground.

"Hey, watch it, are you trying to kill me?" Zack said after he stood up from getting thrown face down into the dirt.

He then ran off, scurrying away.

"Wonder what's his deal?" I said, "We just saved his life, for crying out loud!"

I then went to head back to my house, when a voice out of nowhere started laughing. I braced myself for the worst to come, when another guy as tall as Slendy came out, but he was much different. He had black, round eyes and a black smile. He wore a black suit with rainbow polka dots on them, and a top hat on.

"What the heck are you doing here?" Slendy said, sounding annoyed.

"Oh, hello brother!" he said with a clown-like voice.

"**That's **your brother?" I said, confused. "But he's so, _different_."

"Get used to him being around like this," Slendy said, coming up to the brother, but received a hug instead.

"Oh, it's been forever since I've seen you!" he said.

"I just saw you, like, this weekend." Slendy said, sounding extremely annoyed.

The other one then noticed me, and reached out one of his tentacles to me. His tentacles were just the same design as his suit, and had little bells on the end.

"Let me introduce myself," the brother said, smiling with glee. "My name's Splendor man, but you can just call me Splendor."

"Splendor, huh?" Gemm said. "But why are you all cheery and your brother's more calm?"

"Oh, I just am this way, unless you wanna anger me-"

"Nope. No, nope, nope, nope." Slendy said, covering up Splendor's face. "That's one thing I don't think they want to see."

"Fine by me! Oh, we're going to have so much fun together! A month full of-"

"A MONTH?" Slendy said, almost pissed at the situation.

"Well," Splendor said, sounding ashamed. "All the rest of friends and family kicked me out, soooooooo-"

"You're not staying a full month in **my** house, so get your own!" Slendy snapped, sounding really angered.

""Aw, c'mon little brother, you know I have no job to even get a house, and I can't even find one like you did," Splendor said, trying to convince his brother.

"Well, go find a different woods. I've had it with you," Slendy said, and then Splendor snapped.

"What, did, you, just, say?" Splendor said, his clownish voice fading to a horrifying, deep voice.

"You've heard me," Slendy said.

I then witness something that I wish I hadn't seen. Splendor then ripped his face off, revealing a bloody face underneath, with a devilish grin and, oh, I just can't say more. I'm shuttering at the thought of it.

"Fine, then, I'll just go." he said, then storming off into the woods.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Slendy apologized.

I was still stiff as a stone, and so was crystal.

"Uh, guys," I heard him say, which then made me snap back.

"Sorry," I said. "I was just, not expecting that."

"Trust me, we'll see him again," he said, shaking his head. "I can't get rid of him, no matter how hard I try."

I laughed a little to that comment. I can't believe that they were so different, but yet related. Splendor seemed nice, but I guess his personality would get tiresome after a week, let alone a month. I then realized that only Gemm was the only person there, besides Slendy and me. I then wondered where everyone went.

"Where's the rest of the group?" I finally asked.

"They left a while ago, they weren't going to wait for Zack's return," she said.

"But, what if we found him dead? They weren't even _worried_ about him?" I said, surprised.

"Well, of course they were, it's just, they knew he was probably going to be fine." she said.

"Well, at least they were concerned. If I were them, I would've stayed behind to make sure he was alright, but that's just me." I said.

"I just stayed behind to make sure you two were alright, since you guys were the ones fighting Jeff. Zack wouldn't do such a thing," she said.

I was surprised she was concerned for Slendy **and **me, but I guess that's just _her_.

After I said goodbye to Slendy and Gemm, I went home and worked on my pieces, but then I realized something was missing. I then realized Zimmy wasn't around, and it's been hours. _Maybe he's with Slendy,_ I thought. _But he kind of just disappeared when usually I would either see or hear him go. I hope he's okay,_ I worried, but then I figured he was all right, for he shoots lasers for crying out loud. I then went back to writing my music, when I realized the one I published has gotten another video review. It was another fan, asking to use it in another video. I was happy to have another fan, and I agreed to let them use it. I then realized the millions of views I was getting, and how famous this was really becoming. _Slender Woods_ was on the front page again on the website as top viewed in music. I then listen to the music for another time, almost not believing that it was _I_ who wrote it. It the inspired me to keep going on the other songs. I was writing song after song until Zimmy finally came through the window, since he can climb the tree that was directly outside of it.

"Sorry it took me so long, I had to find a steam since that bag made me so sick," he said, still a little green in the face. "Anyways, I have some plans for the holidays, since I like to think in advance. Jeff and Slendy agreed, along with Splendor. So, here's the paper to sign so I can tell them you'd agreed."

"You mean I have to _sign_ something?" I said. "You're almost like a lawyer now,"

"Just sign the paper," he said.

I then read the paper. We were all going to drop off a gift at the hideout, since everyone knows where it is. We were to leave one gift for everybody, and we'd come back and pick up our presents.

"Of course I agree with this, why wouldn't I?" I said as I signed my name right next to the others. "I think this is a great idea!"  
"You've got a while, until Christmas," he said, happy to see that I agreed. _Okay,_ I said in my head, _I have a month to get this stuff, and I've got the perfect things. The only thing I have to do is find everything._

I'm a little disappointed that I don't even remembered what I picked out for anyone except Zimmy, who got a cat toy, and Jeff, who got a glow in the dark sword from the help of Zimmy. I probably gave Splendor something cheerful and colorful, but all I can remember for Slendy was that it was the most meaningful thing out of all the three. I remembered that when I found it, it was right for him, yet I couldn't put a finger on it. _Ah, at least it was special and that's all that counts_, I said to myself. I then found Gemm a lovely necklace that I couldn't use anymore because it would choke me. The rest I was going to make little stuffed animals that represented them, and I learned that from my grandmother. I started making a little Siamese cat for Kat, a giraffe for Katy, a rat for Zack, a rabbit for Fern, a bear for Cody, a German Sheppard for Jack, a lion for Sunni, a macaw for Emma, a monkey for Matt, and a dolphin for Sarah. I finished about half the group, when I realized it was time for dinner. After I ate, I did some other things, then finished the rest of the stuffies, which I like to call them, and went to bed. It was school the next day, and I hoped not to run into Kyan the next day, whom repeatedly asks me for Zimmy. Like always, I refuse.

"Another day has gone by," I said to Kat the next day in math class. "So, what's for L.A.? All we're doing in social studies is doing that paper research thing, so nothing's really new there."

"Oh, we're starting to read some creepy pastas since rumors keep flying around about you and you-know-who." she said, grinning at me. "And don't act like you know who spread it!"

**Chapter Eight**

_The Art of Music_

"Was it Matt," I asked, not looking surprised. I knew this sort of thing wouldn't be a secret for long. "Because if it is, I'm not amused."

"No, it was Jack," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Ah, well, that's no surprise. So, which legend are we reading up on?"

"Some story about Jeff," she said. "Since that story was the only one that was really bugging people. The others, well, let's just say they don't even care."

"Well, I'm going to be an expert in L.A. for a little bit. I already read Jeff's creepy pasta." I said.

"No, we're reading on one of the witnesses of him, and it didn't end well," she said as we left the class.

"Oh, well then, that's a different story. I'm sure it's going to end up in him dying," I said, then we both laughed as we walked away.

I the found my seat next to Gemm in L.A., and we began talking like usual, but this time, she was concerned.

"I think we need to kick Jack out of the group for this, since I've been hearing stories fly around about us and it all came from his mouth. It's not even about you-know-who anymore. It's about Zack cheating on me for you and stuff like that." she said, and she sounded like she was upset.

"But Jack's been a good friend to us, so what would make him change like that?" I said, sounding heartbroken.

"I don't know, but we need to give him a warning later, and I'll have Zack deliver it to him. I just, huh," she sighed, then continued, "he turned when Zack came into the group, and I guess he's just jealous."

I knew she was upset at the situation, but she didn't want to cry because she hated the guidance councilor, for that councilor was a real snob and tried to act nice, when she was really a sourpuss.

"Class, now I know there's been rumors going on…." started, and everyone just glared directly at me.

said about the stories of Jeff going around and wanted to make sure the rumors stopped by us reading the story about him so it'll scare the pants off of us. It didn't work, at least for me and Gemm, but some looked like they were about to hide under their desk and scream for their lives. At the end, she was surprised that Gemm and I weren't scared.

"How did you like that story, Crystal," she said, making everyone else realize that I was smiling and not even losing my cool.

"I liked it, since I like that genre." I said, and Gemm nodded with me.

"Oh," said, almost surprised that I was even reading those types of books, and so was everyone else.

"Yah," I said. "I'm just trying something new."

"Same here," Gemm said, supporting me. "After doing our report, it was quite fun reading the long stories."

I was glad I had a good friend like Gemm. Honestly, if I never had met her, I wouldn't even have met the rest of the group. In the blink of an eye, we were out of school and I was going home to finish homework, then going into the forest again. As I was going home, I felt like I was being followed. I then tried to outrun the person, but I just ended up looking around, only to find no one there. I went inside, did my homework, then went out with Zimmy to go find either Jeff or Slendy, since Jeff was starting to become a friend of mine, since he's given up the whole 'killing' thing with me. I actually found Slendy first, and I was having a great time, until I felt like I was being watched.

"Everything alright? You looked worried," Slendy said, watching me look behind me.

"I'm not so sure," I responded. "I feel like I'm being _watched_."

"Actually, I feel the same way," he said, and we both headed to the bushes, only to find no one there, or so we thought.

"Oh, well look who I find," Kyan said, almost scarring the pants off of me. "So, who's this with you, Slendy?"

"Um, Kyan? You know Slendy but not me?" I asked, confused.

"Oh, I know you, just not your name." he said, making me feel odd.

"Do I know you?" Slendy asked, confused as well.

"Oh, You're Crystal! That's the name!" Kyan said, and I was still puzzled. "And I should probably change back."

He then had a light glowing around him, and then there was a fox standing where Kyan used to be.

"YOU!" Slendy said, reaching out for the creature. "So, we meet again. I suspect you're hear for the cat."

"What's going on?" I asked, still trying to figure out what's happening.

"This little fox used to be Jeff's magical pet, like I have Zimmy," Slendy started off. "His name is Rocky. After Jeff abandoned him, he's been going after Zimmy to bring back to Jeff so he can be his pet again, but stay out of his way, Crystal, you don't want to get close."

Just then the fox tried to shoot a blue laser at me, and then a more violet one.

"That's is," Rocky said. "I'm going to do this the easy way, like I did to your brother."

"What'd you do to Splendor?" I said, completely confused.

Just then, the fox shot a different kind of laser that was all the colors at Slendy, who then fell to the ground in pain. I rushed over, but realized that Slendy was shrinking until he was so small that he can fit into my palm.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" I said, shocked at how Slendy was now.

"The only way I can get his cat now," Rocky said, laughing.

"Oh, no you can't! I am also one of the owners of the cat, but I know better than to let you shoot me!" I said, and the fox had a surprised look on his face.

"Fine, then." he said. "I'll come back for you later. Oh, and looks like Slendy's going to be that way for about a week. Have fun!"

The fox then trotted off, and Slendy started to gain his thought back together.

"What happened?" He asked, his voice now has gotten to a higher pitch so he sounded like a mouse.

I giggled a little, and then he finally realized what had happened.

"Aw, c'mon!" He squealed, and then looked up at me. "What do I do now?"

"I guess I have to keep you with me, for you can't do anything now," I said.

"I guess I'm just going to have to cope with it," he said, and then he smiled, and I smiled back.

"Oh, hello there!" I squeaker voice said, and I had to look really closely at the ground to realize another little figure had come up to me.

"Splendor?" I asked, wondering why he was even shrunken down now.

"Hey! So, I saw the fox got me little bro as well!" He said, his voice so squeaky that it had become a little irritating.

"Oh, don't tell me he has to come along!" Slendy said, starring at his brother in discuss.

"Well," I said, trying not to be too loud for them. "He can't do anything on his own, either, so I guess we're just going to have to get along."

"Fine," Slendy said. "But don't expect me to talk to him much."

I then picked Splendor up and sat the two on top of my head so I didn't lose them. If I had to keep them for a full week, at least they wont be too much trouble, or at least I hope. We finally reached my house, and I realized my mother wasn't home yet.

"Nice house," I heard the squeaky voice of Slendy say.

"Thanks, but it's not as nice as the neighbor's," I said, pointing to the mansion next to us with the giant pool out back.

Okay, maybe it wasn't a mansion, but it still looked like one compared to ours. I got up to my room and put the two on my desk where I usually write my music for fun. It was a nice sized desk with lots and lots of drawers, a board on the side to put pushpins in to hold paper up, and a magnetic board on the other side. I liked the pushpin board better because one, the board was bigger, and two, because it holds heavy papers, unlike the other board. I had my laptop on there with it plugged in for charging and power. The birch wood desk also had a secret compartment that I had Cody make for me when he was in a woodcutting class. The secret compartment was big enough to fit two textbooks in, and it's mainly of trash, but I use it to keep my special pieces of music in. I had only one completed piece in there, and that was _Slender Woods_. I was going to make a cleaner copy, but I didn't have time.

"You've been working on **all** of these?" Slendy asked.

"Yah, since I've got nothing else better to do." I responded.

"But, why go through the trouble?" Splendor said for the fist time since I found him.

"Because," I said. "I just really love music."

That's when Zimmy came in, thinking it was just me, until he saw the two tiny people I had on my desk with me.

"Crystal, who are they?" Zimmy asked. "Oh, wait, never mind. What happened to you guys?"

"That fox shot us," Splendor said. "And then we got tiny!"

Zimmy sighed, and then said, "I guess I should watch over them, huh?"

"For now, anyways. I better get the pie out of the fridge since they need food." I said, then headed downstairs.

My mother likes to make pie on her free time, and when she does, she makes a **lot** of it. She made up a recipe for a blue raspberry pie, and it's one of the best pie's I've ever eaten. Even Zimmy got into it, though I don't know how, and said it was really good. I knew my mother was home all day yesterday, so I knew she would probably bake about 3. I opened the fridge, and found not 3, not even 5, but 10 pies. **10 PIES!** How much pie do we need? I knew it wouldn't matter if I took a slice, but still, 10 flipping pies! I usually say flipping when I'm surprised, and I was defiantly surprised since she never makes this many pies. I was about to grab a slice, when my mother stepped in the door.

"Oh, I've see you found the pie stash," she said.

"Uh, what's all this pie for?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing really, but I'm saving the one in the blue pan for the fair," she said.

"Okay, may I take some up?" I asked.

"As long as there's no crumbs," she said, sighing.

"Thanks!" I said, and then I took a giant slice out of the pie and took it upstairs.

"Great, you're back," Zimmy said, holding Slendy in one paw and Splendor in the other.

"What happened this time?" I asked, watching Slendy squirm around, since I didn't realize how cute the two were when they were the sizes of a mouse.

"They just keep on fighting, and I don't know what to do," Zimmy said, and I felt a little sorry for him that he had to deal with the two.

"I guess they wont have pie then," I said sarcastically, and the two instantly stopped fighting on the word _pie_.

"Oh, so you _do_ want pie?" I said, laughing a little.

I cut a little bit off for each, and they chewed it right down. For some reason, it was like they were little kids when they were puny. They ate it so fast that it was gone in three seconds, and they kept taking more until they were stuffed. Surprisingly, Slendy was still slender, but Splendor was as round as a bouncy ball.

"Yah," Slendy said in his **extremely** cute squeaky voice. "I have to stay slender, since it was part of my job."

"You guys are so different when you're small," I said, tickling Slendy a bit with my finger.

His high pitch giggle made me laugh.

"Hey, cut it out," he said, still laughing so hard, so I stopped.

"I better get you guys some beds," I said. "So you have somewhere to sleep, and I know you're each going to need a bed."

"Yah," Splendor said. "I'm not sleeping with him. When we slept in the same room as kids, he snored like crazy."

I laughed even at the thought of it. _Slendy snoring? _I said to myself, _now that's one thing I'd like to see._ Then I wondered how he would sound when he was tiny like this. I was almost squealing at the thought of it. Just then, the phone rang.

"Hey Crystal, it's me, Gemm."

"Oh hey, Gemm, what's up." I asked.

"Do you mind if I come over? I didn't see you at all today because of homework club and the appointment," she said.

"Well, of course! Hold on, let me ask first." I said.

I the got permission then said, "Yah, you can come over, just, uh, be careful when you come into my room."

"Uh, what do you mean by careful?" she asked, sounding confused.

"Just watch where you step, there's been a little incident at the forest today."

"What happened now?" she said.

"Well, you'll see what I mean when you come over." I said, then said bye, and then hung up.

"So," Zimmy said. "We're going to have company?"

"Yah, and at least I have someone to help me with these two," I said, pointing at Slendy and Splendor, who were now watching videos on my laptop.

"Good point," the black cat said, and then went to keep watch of them.

When Gemm finally came over, she was watching the floor and trying the best to be careful.

"Oh, don't worry. They're on the desk now." I said, pointing to the laptop.

"Who's on the desk?" she asked.

"Hey, Gemm!" Slendy greeted, and Gemm just waved back.

"What happened to them?" she asked, looking over her shoulder to watch either them or the video they were watching.

After explaining what happened, I said, "So, I'm going to need a little help with some things for them."

"Well, good thing I brought this over," she said, taking out a small set-up for doll beds. "I brought this over so we could use them for that dollhouse you have, but I guess they can use them."

It only took about a minute to assemble them, and when they were done, they were the perfect size.

"These are _so cute_!" I said. "These are defiantly going to work."

"Well, I'm glad I brought them!" Gemm said.

After that, we just kept messing around with the two brothers until it Gemm went home. At that point, I kept working on my music until bedtime.

"Time for bed, guys," I said, turning off the laptop.

They were disappointed, but they claimed their beds and we all just went to sleep. I just wished it were a more peaceful sleep. I had nightmares out the wazoo and I guessed I was talking in my sleep, for I felt something touch my cheek. I slightly woke up, only to see Slendy looking at me in horror.

"You were, like, grunting and sleep walking," He said. "Is everything, uh, okay?"

"Yah," I just said. "Just, um, bad dreams."

"Then you need some comfort." He said, jumping into my shirt pocket.

"But you'll get squashed! I roll around in my sleep, unless," I started to say, but then I grabbed some pillows on each side to keep me from rolling. To be honest, it did feel a little better having him sleep with me. The bad dreams stopped, and I was almost certain that I had a dream about him, too. It had us gazing at the stars at night, talking and laughing.

_**BEEP BEEP BEEP!**_

"What the-" I moaned, surprised to find myself in the same spot as last night, with Slendy all in one piece. "Oh, morning. C'mon guys, time to get up."

I poked Slendy a little bit, with him rubbing his eyes. Splendor did the same, and Zimmy gave a morning yawn. I got ready for school, but then worried a little bit about the two. They didn't do so well with only Zimmy watching over them. I finally came to a risky solution.

"Okay, guys," I said when I was eating breakfast with them. "I guess you can come with me to school as long as you keep quiet."

They agreed, and then I heard Zimmy say, "What if I walk you down in my human form? Just so you guys are okay and all."

"You have a human form?" I asked.

"Oh yah," he said. "I need to shape-shift so that I can hide and protect."

"Alright, but do it once we're outside of he house, okay? I don't want my mother to think that I had a guy sleep over without her permission." I said, and Zimmy nodded. "Okay, let's get going."

I ended up putting the two in each pocket of my shirt so they don't fight. They were starting to get along, but it's going to need some work. Zimmy was very attractive when he was a human. He had black hair, green eyes, a grey hoodie and ripped jeans like Jeff, and cool red sneakers that seem to glow.

"I feel like people are going to think we, um, like each other with you walking me down." I said, being a bit concerned.

"Oh, just say I'm a cousin, or something like that." Zimmy said, taking my hand as I walked down.

"Well, well, well," Gemm said as she came besides me. "Who's this?"

"This is Zimmy, my cat. Apparently he can shape-shift as well."

"Oh," Gemm said, sounding disappointed. "well, explain him to Zack, for he is super jealous."

**Chapter Nine**

_Tiny Slendy_

"Aw, what?" was my reaction, not realizing how much Zack actually _liked _me.

"Yah," Gemm said. "And he can't know that Zimmy's like this, otherwise he'd tell the other's. Which will result into-"

"-Matt telling the others?" I ended for her.

"Yep. And I see you couldn't leave them at home, either." Gemm said, rubbing Splendor on the head.

"Yah. It's just, they were crazy the last time I was gone." I said, staring down at each pocket.

"Well, see you inside!" she said, going towards the school.

I was glad I didn't run into Zack at all. He was on the other side of the classroom, keeping a great distance away from me.

"Don't worry, Crystal," I heard Slendy whisper to me. "He's not going to be like that forever."

I smiled down a bit, then went through the rest of the day, acting as if the two in my pockets were just erasers. Everyone thought they were awesome, and I was glad that they played along. It was then to L.A., which I forgot I had a test.

"Hey, pst, you guys. Can you hide in my pencil case while I take this? It'll only be for a little bit." I asked, not wanting to be cheating.

"Sure thing," Slendy said, and I put them in the almost empty pencil case with the zipper open on the desk.

The test was obviously easy, since I loved the class so much and I pay attention all the time. Slendy and Splendor kept quiet in the bag most of the time, but yet I knew it was going to be hard for them to keep _silent_ for 10 minutes. By the time I was done, the two were literally holding their breaths to keep silent.

I whispered into the bag, saying, "Okay, guys, you can come out now. Just be quiet!"

The two stepped out, still keeping quiet, and then sat on my desk so that they looked like little erasers. I enjoyed watching them as they read my book along with me and watch me do some other homework. It was then time to go, and I put each of them in one of my shirt pockets so they aren't cooped up in the pencil case again. I then found Zimmy as a human when I got out of the building, and he was ready to walk me home.

"So," he said. "How was school?"

"Okay, and at least these two kept quiet." I said, looking down at the pockets.

"I knew they would listen to you," Zimmy said, smiling at me.

We began walking, but then I saw that Zack was coming over to me.

"Watch out," I whispered into Zimmy's ear. "Here come's Zack!"

Zack strutted over to me with the rest of the guys, starring Zimmy down.

"Who's this, Crystal?" he asked me. "Is this another guy friend?"

"Um," I said, trying to think of something.

"I'm her cousin," Zimmy finally said.

"Oh," Zack said, almost laughing. "I thought you were her _boyfriend_ or something."

"Now, why would I date someone who's in the family?" I said, laughing as I went.

"Yah, that is pretty weird," Zack said. "Well, see you later, then!"

At least the rest of the walk home was normal, and I had Zimmy change back into a cat in the backyard so no one could see him.

"Okay," he said, coming out from around the corner of the house. "So, let's get these two inside before something **really **bad happens."

The rest of the day was just like the day before, only without Gemm at my house. The two ate another half-slice of pie and they watched cat videos on my laptop. The only thing different was the phone call.

"Hey, Crystal." I heard Gemm say on the other line of the phone.

"Oh, hey. So, what's up this time?"

"Um, so I have some, uh, news…" she began.

"Good or bad?" I asked.

"To be honest," she said. "I'm not so sure."

"So, tell me, what news have you got to tell me?"

"Well, you know Jeff?" she asked.

"Well, of course I do! We're starting to become friends, and-"

"Yah, I get that," she said. "I met him in the woods today."

"So, what happened? Did he try to kill you?" I asked, sounding a bit worried.

"Oh, no. But, he did do something that I never expected him to do."

"And what's that?" I asked.

"He, uh, asked me out," Gemm said, getting a little bit quieter as she said it.

"WHAT? NO WAY!" I screamed into the phone, and I was almost certain that I blasted Gemm's poor ears.

"Yah, just, keep it down." she told me, and I apologized right after.

"So, what'd you say?" I asked.

"I said yes!" she blurted out, and I knew she was probably blushing. "I couldn't say no! He was so shy, and he brought me flowers, and-"

"Flowers? What type?" I asked, wanting as much detail as I can.

"Mostly lilies, which are my favorite. There's a bit of roses as well." Gemm said, and I was squealing so much with excitement.

"What? What's going on?" Zimmy asked, trying to get in on the conversation, but I shushed him.

"OMG! This is so romantic!" I said, feeling so happy for her. "So, where are you guys going, or what are you doing?"

"I don't know," she said. "He just told me to meet up by the hideout tomorrow night."

"Well, good luck!" I said, and then we said our goodbyes and hanged up.

"So, what's happening now?" Zimmy asked for the second time.

"Look's like Jeff has a heart for Gemm." I said, smiling at the thought.

"What? No way! You've got to be kidding me!" Zimmy said, shocked.

The surprised look on Slendy and Splendor's face was priceless, and they were so, so cute. I explained the whole thing to them, not leaving out a single detail.

"So, look's like Jeff's a lucky dog afterwards," Slendy said, still surprised. "He's never been like that before."

"I guess something just made him do it," I said. "Probably another vision or something."

"Or to prevent the one he already had!" Zimmy said, and we all laughed at the joke.

I then went to writing more music, and I wrote and finished about 20 pieces. I was extremely tired by the time I went to bed, and just like the night before, I had Slendy sleep in my pocket again. It didn't feel weird at all, having him sleep with me, for when he was small, it was just like sleeping with a tiny cat. I had peaceful dreams again, and they were all happy and beautiful.

The next couple of days were like that, with the two going to school with me and us almost finishing one full pie. I even forgot about how they were going to be full size soon, but I wished I would've remembered that, for the night Slendy turned back was, um, let's just say embarrassing. I fell asleep with little Slendy in my pocket again, having peaceful dreams, but then I realized something was _different_. I then realized I had a lot of weight on top of me, and I heard loud snoring. I woke up, realizing that Slendy was fully-grown now, sleeping right on top of me! I then started to scream, startling him. I guess he didn't realize that he was back to normal, since he was startled so much.

"Oh, uh…." was all he said, and then just shook his head, watching Splendor, fully-grown, sleep on my desk.

"I guess you should probably go," I whispered.

"No, I've got this," he said, and then turned back to the smaller, travel-sized him. "I have the same magic as Zimmy does, though we should probably wake my brother up,"

It took only a minute or two to get splendor out quietly and safely. Slendy was going to go back in my pocket, but it was ripped now from when he was growing. I just sighed, and then put him in the small bed.

"You've better be out of here by morning, or else we're going to have a problem." I whispered.

"Of course, but I'll wait until you're up until I go," he said, and then drifted off to sleep.

I smiled, and did the same. I was surprised I still had a peaceful sleep, but probably because the bed was so close to my bed now, since I moved it just incase.

By the morning, Slendy was out of the house by the time I got dressed. I was going to see him today anyways, so it was no big deal. I then remembered what I was going to give to him, and I packed it away for him in a small gift box for Christmas morning.

I was glad I had the whole week off for Thanksgiving, since my friends and I usually had our leaf-pile contest this whole week. It was a popular thing at our hideout, and everyone from our school in our same grade came to it. I was glad that I was finally a judge this year, and I got the best job ever. I get to test out how fun each leaf-pile is to jump in! The person who did it last year was **so** covered in leaves that he was camouflaged in with each leaf-pile. Like every year, it was Zack who host it, and it was Gemm and Emma who help him make and pass out ribbons. The three events were the biggest pile, the most fun pile, and the best leaf-pile jumper. I was so excited to help out this year, and I couldn't wait to start. This year, Zimmy was going to enter in the most fun contest, and of course he was going to be in his human form, which I found out that the human form was called Ricky. Apparently, when you have a 'human side', as they call it, you have to have a name for it so you will be called that when it's showing. In other words, it's a name for his disguise.

"Hey, Crystal!" 'Ricky' called.

"Oh, hey Zim-, er, I mean 'Ricky'. So, I can't wait to judge you're leaf pile!" I said, and then whispered in his ear, "Just don't use any 'magic', okay?"

"Why would I use magic?" he whispered back. "It's not a life or death situation. Unless there's a hole in the bottom of one…."

We just laughed, and then the composition started.

"Guys and Gals," I heard Zack say. "It is my pleasure to host the annual 'Leaf-pile' contests! I am happy to see you all here, and as you know, we are going to have our usual three events. This year, the best leaf-pile jumper contest is starting first, then biggest pile, and then most fun pile. Good luck everyone, and the prize is, as usual, the blue ribbon."

The contestants started at the edge of the outskirts of the hideout. Each contestant had a leaf pile, each the same size, in front of him or her for them to jump into. I watched as the contestants, one by one, jumped into the pile using different ways, and each having leaves sticking on them. When that was over, it was time for about 20 kids to build the biggest pile they can in two minutes. When the timer went off, I watched as each kid hustled to get as many leaves as they can, raking them up and putting them in the pile. Gemm, Emma, and Zack each surveyed the piles, nodding and whispering among themselves. Then, finally, it was the most fun pile contest. After the 10-20 kids that participated in it was done, I had to jump into each pile, one by one, to see how fun it is. Mostly for this, it all comes down to the right size. One too big would just be a big mess, but one too small would be like jumping into nothing. I had to jump into so many leaf piles, and then 'Ricky's' was last. His was huge, and I knew it was going to be a big mess, that is, until he told me what I should do to jump into it.

"Climb up the tree and then jump into it, and then you'll see why it's so fun!" he told me, and I began climbing the old oak tree that's been there for who knows how long.

I was then at the very top, and everyone started to count down.

"Five, four, three, two…" I heard, and then closed my eyes. "ONE!"

I jumped, landing through a small hole in the pile. I then opened my eyes, and I saw what looked like a leaf vortex, since it was all hollow inside, hold together by mud and sticks. When I landed with a _thud_, I then saw a small hole in the pile for me to get out. When I finally got out, I encouraged Zack to leave it up and put a sign on the tree, telling people to climb in the tree to jump in. We did put a sign up right away, and people took turns falling through the awesome, hollowed-out pile of red, yellow and orange leaves. The rest weren't as good as 'Ricky's', but they were still fun to jump in. It was then time for me to head in the hideout to help make decisions. As I walked in, I noticed the blue ribbons for the winners, ready to have a name stitched into them.

"So," Zack said. "What'd you think?"

"Well," Gemm said. "Why not start with the first contest?"

"Well," Emma said. "I though Arid was the best, since running before jumping is the best way to jump into a pile."

We all agreed with that, and we knew Arid was the one who ran the farthest back, and he's never won before.

"Now, to the biggest pile." I said.

"Well, from what I saw, it looked like Jack had the biggest." Zack said.

"Which Jack? The one from our group?" Gemm asked.

"Yah," Zack said. "He had a big pile."

We all agreed with Zack, and Emma started to stitch names into the ribbons.

"And now," Emma said. "To yours, Crystal. Which one did you think is the best?"  
"Well, isn't it obvious?" I said. "It was 'Ricky' who won that."

"But isn't he your cousin?" Zack asked. "So doesn't it seem a bit unfair?"

"Well," I said. "Everyone else seemed to agree with me."

They all agreed with my statement. We came out of the hideout, ready to announce the winners.

"Okay, everybody!" Gemm said. "We have our winners! Come up here when you here your name so we can give you your ribbon!"

We announced each winner, but I think the one who was the most happy to receive one was 'Ricky'.

"I never had a ribbon before," 'Ricky' whispered into my ear.

"It was amazing! How'd you create that in just three minutes? You didn't use your magic, did you?" I asked.

"Oh, no! It's just, I change into my human form when it's fall and I build piles all the time. I like to do these piles the best."

"I see why," I said.

I then helped clear out the place when I notice that there was somebody still lingering around the place. I have never seen the boy before, and I guessed he was new here. The boy had red, spiky hair and blue, crystal-like eyes just like mine. He also wore a block hoodie and jeans with regular sneakers. I walked over to him, but he hid behind the trees.

"Um, hello." I said calmly, not wanting to scare him. "My name's Crystal. Are you new here?"

"Uh," the boy said in a familiar voice, but I couldn't place where, or who, I heard it from. "H-hi, Crystal."

"You don't have to be scared, I won't hurt you," I said, trying to stay calm, not wanting him to be nervous.

"My name's Nathan, he said, and our eyes met. "What are you doing here with that crowd of people?"

"Oh, we were having contests of leaf-piles." I said, almost laughing when I said it.

"Cool," he replied. "Oh, gee, I've got to go!"

He then ran off before I could say another word. I went back to the others, asking them if they knew the boy.

"I do," 'Ricky' said, smiling. "And you do, too, Crystal."

"Is it someone in disguise? If it is, then who?" I asked, surprised that I would know him.

"He told me not to tell you. Didn't you recognize his voice?" he asked.

"I thought I did, but I couldn't place where. Anyway, he ran off. You guys can continue, I'm going to find, uh, a friend." I said, not wanting to reveal that I was going to find Slendy.

It seemed that 'Ricky' knew exactly what I meant, and he acted like he had to leave, when he really just went in the hideout and changed back into his cat self.

"Oh, there you are, Zimmy!" I said, acting like I didn't know where he was.

All Zimmy did was meow at me, since there was too many people outside of the group that was around for him to talk. I then followed Zimmy so we could go find Slendy, which I knew would take a while. We did finally found him, and I spent the rest of my day with him, talking and laughing about so many different things. I still cant believe the guy never read his own legend, which was exactly what I was giving him for Christmas. I though it was time he finally read his own story. I even added Jeff's and some others in there, not knowing if he read those, either.

"It's getting a little chilly out," I finally said. "And, is that… SNOW?"

I watched in amazement as the first snow of the season started to fall down from the sky. It was the most beautiful thing I ever watched as me and Slendy huddled close together for warmth. Zimmy changed to his human self, and huddled in closer with us.

"Gee," 'Ricky' said, watching the snow fall on the ground and into little piles. "I never really watched snow fall from the sky before. It's so… pretty,"

"Yah," I said, my voice in a hushed whisper. "Yes it is."

By the time I was home, it was snowing pretty hard. Since I had 'Ricky' walk me back for warmth, it wasn't too bad, but it was still chilly. He then turned back to Zimmy when we finally got inside.

"Wow," the little cat said. "First snow fall of the season, how'd you feel about it?"

"I thought it was the coolest thing I've ever witnessed. I just wished I brought a heavier jacket with me," I said, and then started to shiver a bit.

"Oh, no, you're not getting sick, are ya?" Zimmy asked me, then curled up with me on the leather couch.

"I hope not! Thanksgiving's tomorrow and I can't afford to miss it!" I said, trying to get up to get medicine, but the cat pinned me down.

"I'll get it," he said. "You need your rest. After last week with Slendy and Splendor's little, uh, problem, you need a break."

The cat got off my chest, and then got to the cabinet where we kept all the medical stuff. He then brought back a white container and poured me out a serving.

"Now sit up and drink this," he ordered, and I did so. "Now get some rest. Just say that you felt a bit sick and needed to lay down for a bit."

I then said exactly what Zimmy told me to say when my mother asked why I was on the couch. She then felt my forehead and said I was fine, and let me sleep a little bit longer. I was glad I got the rest, but I still wondered where I've heard that Nathan guy before. I knew it was from somewhere, and I hear it a whole lot. I just blocked it out of my mind and tried to have a peaceful sleep, but I guess I was sleepwalking again because Zimmy was right by me when I woke up. I then felt better and tried to finish the presents for my friends. I did finish, and I saw that I've gotten Splendor just a pack of balloons. I remembered Zimmy said he loved balloons, so it made sense. I was just a bit sad that I would have to come late, and then I wont see the others open their presents, but it's the giving that counted. I would just have to leave my gifts at the tree on Christmas Eve.

Thanksgiving break was great, and before I knew it, December came. I was all ready for the weekend, and to spend a day with Slendy, Jeff, and the whole group now that all my friends are starting to come together into one big group. I met Slendy and Jeff at the hideout with the other members of the group there as well. I then noticed that Jeff had an axe in his hands and there were boxes on the hideout's ground that was labeled 'Christmas'.

"What's going on?" I asked Slendy.

"Can't ya tell?" he said. "We're going to get ourselves a Christmas tree!"

**Chapter Ten**

_Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree_

"A tree? Oh, right…." I thought, remembering that we don't even have a tree yet.

"C'mon!" Slendy said. "Me, you and Jeff are going to go and find one while the others will decorate it!"

"Awesome! As long as I get to put the star on top!" I said, smiling with glee.

"Of course, Crystal! You're always the one to do that!" Gemm said, then went over and gave Jeff a hug goodbye, which I never saw coming. The rest of the group was either "Awing" or "Oohing". I smiled at them, happy that I was kind of the one who brought them together.

"Come on, lover boy!" I heard Slendy joke, making me chuckle.

We headed out towards the middle of the woods, where there were tons of tall pine trees.

"I never realized these were out here!" I said, looking at all the trees, which were decorated in an icing of snow.

"Yah," Slendy said. "Neat, huh? Now, let's find a tree that would fit in the hideout."

I looked around, until I crawled my way through needles on the great pines to find a medium sized tree that looked small compared to the others.

"This the one?" Jeff asked, raising the axe.

"Yep," I said, grinning. "It's perfect!"

"You heard the gal," Slendy said. "Cut it down!"

Jeff did so, and with about three swings of the axe, the little tree was down. Jeff and I carried it all the way back, and when the rest saw it, they adored it.

"Oh, it's so cute!" Gemm said.

"Nice size, too." Zack said, examining the tree.

"It smells just like fresh pine." Sarah said, sniffing the tree a little bit.

We started to decorate with some old decorations we don't really use anymore. I finally put the gold, shining star on top, and the tree was done, until I noticed something was missing.

"Hang on…." I said.

I then grabbed one strand of the Christmas lights from around the hideout and wrapped it around the tiny tree. It lit up with the twinkling lights, and most of us took pictures of it. We were all crowded by it, enjoying the light the tree gave off, talking and chatting with everyone inside. When Gemm was finally away from Jeff, I started asking her a few questions.

"So, how did that date go?" I asked when we were in a safe corner of the hideout.

"Well," Gemm started. "He had me at the hideout so he could change to his 'human form', which he called 'Greg'. He then took me to a fancy restraint, which explained the disguise, and he paid with his own money he somehow had."

"Wow," I said. "He probably stole the money from somewhere or found it from a long time ago. How'd you get in?"  
"He told me to dress fancy," she said, blushing a bit and started to look at him.

"What'd you wear?" I asked, wanting details.

"I had that fancy dress from last year's prom," she said, smiling a bit.

I remembered that dress. It was a fancy one-piece, long dress with straps that was a bright red. It was sparkly and she had a ponytail up with a red band holding it together, or at least it was during prom night.

"Anyway," she said, which broke my thoughts. "I really got to know the guy, and, we started to really like each other. He still thinks you have a thing for Slendy…" she said, pointing to him.

"Well," I said. "We're just really good friends, that's all."

"Uh, huh…." She said, not believing me.

"Oh, c'mon! You know it's just that!" I said.

"I also know what you did when he was tiny," she said. "With him sleeping in your pocket and all that. And when he grew back-"

"WHAT! How'd you know this?" I said, almost a bit too loudly.

"Keep it down," Gemm whispered as some people started to stare at us. "Listen, Jeff told me this. He said he heard it from Splendor-"

"But Splendor was asleep when Slendy changed back, unless…." I thought, and then horror struck me.

"Unless, what?" Gemm asked, confused.

I then whispered into her ear, "Unless Splendor watched us sleep."

Gemm and I started to exchange horrific glances, and she was just as creped out as I was.

"Uh," Gemm said, still horrified. "That's a little…."

"Creepy?" I finished for her. "I know, and I don't know if I want to trust him anymore."

We both shivered in discuss. I saw Slendy glance at me, a little confused, but I nodded to say that everything's fine, even though it's not. He just looked back to where he was, still probably confused. That's when we heard a knock at our hideout entrance, and Slendy turned invisible while Jeff turned into 'Greg'. It was one of the rangers, looking scared as ever.

"You kids better get out of here, NOW!" the ranger said. "There's a wildfire up ahead, and we need to get everyone out."

"Right away, sir!" 'Greg' said, looking concerned.

"Alrighty, then!" Zack said. "Let's clear out! Everyone, meet up by the school one we're out, for it's every man for himself!"

That's when we all ran out, even 'Greg' and Slendy, for he was visible now, and stayed right by my side.

We were all screaming our heads off when we finally saw the fire racing towards us, but we noticed something. The tree that was right outside the exit and entrance to the woods was on fire, and was about to fall over. Everyone rushed to get out, but it fell over before I could get out.

"CRYSTAL!" I heard Gemm shout to me.

"I'm fine! I'll find a way out!" I called to them through the wall of fire.

I tried to run out towards the fence near my house, but a burning tree blocked my way. I tried all different ways, when finally I saw Slendy run in after me.

"No, Slendy, you've got to get out!" I cried. "You've got to get out!"

"Not without you," he said, and then took me into he arms, and we ran.

We ran for our lives as we tried to find a way out. We finally found a small hole, and Slendy stretched us over and out. We were still trapped in a ring of fire. The smell of smoke was engulfing us, and we were almost out of air.

"No," I whispered. "No, no, no, no, no, no…"

"Okay, new plan," he said, and then grabbed each of the burning branches with one of his tentacles. "We're getting out of here, whether we like it or not!"

I knew it had to hurt, for I could hear the burning on each tentacle. I was just hoping I wouldn't die this way, but something told me that he would _save_ me. The heat was intense, and I almost fainted, that is, until Slendy cached me.

"Hang in there!" he said, still pulling away the burning trees.

He finally got a clearing through the trees. We pushed our way through, the fire almost tickling my cheeks. _We're going to make it!_ I thought to myself, having hope in him as we plunged our way through the fire.

"Look! An exit!" I tried to say, but I was running out of air.

I almost thought we were going at light speed, since that's how fast we were going. Finally, we squeezed through seconds before another tree blocked our way. I soon saw the others, and everything was starting to get blurry.

"CRYSTAL!" I heard Gemm scream, but it sounded like a whisper to me.

I was hearing murmurs, then I was dragged to somewhere, but it was getting too blurry to see. I then realized it was a fire truck and an ambulance close by. I tried to look for Slendy, but I guess he had to disappear due to the many people around. The only 'creepy pasta' guy I saw around was Jeff, but he was in his 'Greg' disguise. Everything was so blurry, that I thought I was going either blind or mad. I wanted to just go home, but I guessed I was in no condition to even go home. I was almost going to faint again, when 'Ricky', a.k.a, Zimmy in his human form, caught me and stayed right by my side.

"I'm not leaving until you stop fainting!" He told me normally, but it sounded like a whisper.

"Where's… Slendy…" I said, barely even hearing myself.

"He's fine," 'Ricky' said, making sure I heard it.

I smiled back, and then I held on to 'Ricky' as they put the gas mask on me, or so what I assumed was a gas mask. I then started to breath normally, and my sight started to come back. My hearing got better, too.

"That's better," 'Ricky' said, looking strait at my eyes. "You're eyes aren't so fogged up. Can you still hear me?"

"Better," I said, my voice weak.

I looked at my arms and legs, which had burnt marks all over them. They were about to bandage them up, but something hold them back, and I couldn't understand why.

"She's got those, markings," one firefighter said.

"Too many kids have been seen with those these days, and each one of these kids have one," the other said, looking at my arm in discuss.

I looked at what they were talking about, and I saw the marking. It was a circle on my arm, but it had an 'X' through it. I saw that Gemm had one too, and then the twins, and, _everyone_ in our group had one. They were all showing theirs to the firefighters, lifting up their sleeves to they could see the whole thing. I even saw that 'Ricky' had one.

"What, **is** this?" I asked 'Ricky'.

"Its Slendy's marking," he responded. "I guess you're all now a Proxy."

"What's a Proxy?" I asked, confused.

"They're the only people he can trust, and **you guys** are, like, his friends," he responded, showing his.

I then looked at my marking, and realized something that was different between the others.

"Then," I asked. "Why is mine **blue**?"

'Ricky' finally realized what I meant, since everyone else's is a reddish color.

"I don't know," he said, confused at the color. "I guess you're one of his favorites."

"I'm his _favorite_?" I said.

"Well," 'Ricky' said. "You're the only one who visits him every single day besides me and is a _really_ good friend."

I smiled at the thought of it. _His favorite? I'm his __**favorite**__?_ I kept running through my head.

"I think she'll be alright," the firefighter was saying to someone, who I then realized was my mother.

"MOM!" I cried, and she came running over, scooping my in my arms.

"What's that on your arm?" she asked, horrified at the blue marking.

"Oh," I said one she realized it was on all my friends. "I'm not really sure. It just, appeared on there."

"Of **course** it did," my mother said sarcastically.

"It's true," 'Ricky' said, looking at my mom. "It just appeared on all of us, but we're not positive on what it's from."

"Is it, dare I say, _permanent_?" she asked, a little worried.

"From the looks of it," he said. "I'm afraid so, or at least of a really, really long time."

"She can't go around with this, _thing_ on her arm!" she said, so angered.

"Wait until you see her friends," he muttered, but only I could hear him and I laughed a little.

"What was that?" my mother said, and all 'Ricky' said was, "nothing."

My mother dragged me home and kept it in the house for the rest of the day. She then came up to me during dinner, still looking at my marking.

"You know," she said. "Your father did have one of those,"

"One of what?" I asked, remembering my father, who sadly departed from us from a terrible toll.

"One of those markings," she said. "He said it's from this legend or something. I think it's the same legend you searched up weeks ago. That, what is it, the Slender man or something like that."

"Yah, that's him," I said, not wanting to reveal anything about Slendy and I.

"Yah," my mother said. "He said he visited him in the woods, er, something and did stuff with him. Then he came home and had that marking, which lasted for years. He then had to go out into the woods and hang up letters on trees. He was then declared insane, and we almost ended up putting him in the 'loony bin'."

I was almost horrified that my mother didn't believe my father. I thought she supported him all the way, but to almost put him in the 'insane' place…

"Oh, and just so you know, Crystal," my mother said. "I think I've seen that Slender guy myself. Heck, I've seen that guy so many times in the woods, I thought **I **was going to be thrown into the 'loony bin'!"

I then was about to tell her, but I kept my mouth shut. _Better check with Slendy first,_ I thought as I closed my mouth. I knew he'd probably be fine with it, since my dad was a Proxy, but it'd still be nice to check first.

Zimmy, in his cat form, then came into the house and looked at my arm.

"Yep," he said. "You're a **true** Proxy, and you're color is like no other."

My symbol was now as light as the color on my walls, and then the color stopped changing. The imprint on my arm matched my eyes, and even glowed a bit. I then touched the symbol, which was as smooth as a marker tip. I then left it alone and tried to get some sleep, but had little success. So, I moved to the next best thing, which was writing more of my songs. I then wondered if I should make up words for _Slender Woods_, but the music seemed too complicated to write. I then tried to write words for others, but none seemed to come to me. I felt like I was better with notes then words. I then tried to write a short story or poem, but that's just as hard as writing lyrics, or at least it was right now, anyways. _Guess fire messes up the mind, _I thought, then started writing poems about fire.

Why does fire burn like so

And the flames seem to glow

Why does fire burn my skin

And not my guts from within

I know, I know, it sounds disturbing, but in reality, that's how I felt in the wildfire. Then, I started to write more, and they kept on coming.

Fire, oh fire, and burn down the trees

Fire, oh fire, why burn my knees

You make fall colors a dangerous toll

As you climb higher and higher on the polls

Fire, oh fire, you make the darkness shade away

Fire, oh fire, you're something that's not for play

You can burn a city, you might burn my house

But, fire, oh fire, sometimes you won't even hurt a mouse!

At least that one's a bit better, and less disturbing. I thought I'd be afraid of the fireplace for a little while, but I guess I was braver than I thought. After sitting by the fireplace for the rest of the day, drinking hot cocoa and having Zimmy on my lap, who could want more?

The next day, Gemm came over to watch me while my mother went to work. We went in the attic to look around, when Gemm found some stuff from my dad.

"Come here and look at this stuff," Gemm called over her shoulder.

I came over quickly, and then I saw what Gemm wanted me over there for. She found boxes and boxes of stuff, all belonging to my dad, and one box said "Proxy Stuff."

"Oh, yah," I said. "Apparently, my dad had the same symbol as you did and was a Proxy as well, and my mom told me all this stuff about how he almost ended up in a mental hospital. My mom also saw Slendy as well, but that's all she told me."

"Does that mean it runs in the family?"

I then realized that I was following my dad's footsteps as a Proxy.

**Chapter Eleven**

_The Proxy Dad_

"I guess you can say that," I said, looking at the tapped-up box. We pulled the super-strong duct tape off, and opened the box. I found a bunch of papers that were strangely saying stuff like "Help me," "Don't look, no eyes," and even a picture that looked exactly like the one at our hideout that got drawn over with the unfinished man, who I then figured out that it was a warning of Slendy, which he turned out to be one of my greatest friends ever.

"This is all too weird," Gemm said, getting a little freaked out.

I then found a diary, keeping track of the things my dad did. Apparently, he wasn't really Slendy's friend, but just a slave who was trying not to get killed by doing all this weird stuff. I eventually looked through the diary, and tried to find out what he did and everything. I eventually see a page that's has the date of the day before he died. I read the page, and it was almost too sad to recite, so I'll just summarize. Apparently, though my dad was still sick, he had to go out that day and see what he needed to do. If he didn't go, well, let's just say I wouldn't be here today, or my mother. I felt sick to my stomach reading this, and I was almost crying, when something hit me. If Zimmy said that it was Jeff making Slendy do all this killing stuff because of a vision, then would Jeff be controlling Slendy through his Proxies as well? I realized that in reality, Jeff would tell Slendy to do these things, and then Slendy would give the assignment to a Proxy. _It all makes sense now! _I thought to myself. I told Gemm my thought and even she understood what I meant.

"If this is the case, then Jeff's a murderer!" she said. "But, I still love the guy!"

I just rolled my eyes, saying, "I have no idea what you even _see_ in him!"

"He's really sweet, though he doesn't like to show it," she said, blushing a bit so her cheeks were a light shade of pink.

I put the diary in my backpack for later, seeing if I can figure out what really happened to my dad, for you see, all we know is that he went out one day and never came back. I really wanted to know his death, no matter how brutal it was. Anyway, we got down from the basement and Gemm and I started to head out from the woods, hoping to find one of our Creepy pasta friends. I couldn't get Gemm to stop talking about her new boyfriend the whole way there.

"Do you think he'll have his dog, Smile, with him?" she asked.

"I don't know, for it's been a while since I've seen that dog." I responded.

"I hope so, since I like to give Smile belly rubs, and I find the dog cute,"

I did agree with Gemm about the dog being 'cute'. Though he was not appealing, Smile did have a cute personality to him, and his actual smile is super-cute, but it could never beat the cuteness of tiny Slendy, for that was adorable.

"Oh, look, there's Jeff!" Gemm pointed out to the boy in the bushes.

"Hey, sweetie!" he called out to Gemm. "Oh, hey Crystal, and if you're looking for Slendy, he went to visit his cousin. Don't worry, he'll be back hopefully soon."

"Oh," was all I said.

Smile was hiding behind the tree in his usual form, and Gemm went to pet the demon dog.

"Just be careful, he might be a little sick from the snow yesterday," Jeff warned us.

Gemm giggled as she gave the dog a belly-rub and found his 'spot' that made his leg go up and down.

"So, I haven't found anything good yet in the forest today," Jeff said. "But at least I'm going to get that age change today!"

"Age change?" I asked, clearly confused.

"Well, you see," he said. "Once a person becomes a Creepy pasta, they stay the age they became one, but you can have it change so your older, under different rules."

"That makes sense," I said. "So, what age are you going to be then?"

"18 years, which isn't too bad," he said, smiling at Gemm. "It's a bit weird to have a 13-year-old guy date a 16-year-old girl."

"True, true," I answered back, watching Gemm play with Smile.

"Oh, looks like it's time, better go, then," he said, then went behind the tree. "I'll be back in a minute."

"K," Gemm said, and soon enough, Jeff disappeared out of know where.

"How'd he do that?" I asked Gemm, but she clearly didn't have the answer.

After Jeff left, Gemm and I just made a random snowman, which looked pretty good. Then we got board and decided to build a fort around it. When it was done, Jeff was already back.

"Nice snowman," he said.

"Thanks," Gemm said, right when Jeff walked out from behind the tree.

Jeff was now taller than Gemm, and he looked older, too. His voice was deeper rather than childish and he sounded like the age he was.

"Wow," Gemm said, falling in love with his new look.

Jeff then changed to 'Greg' to see how it looked, and it had the same changes as his normal look did.

"That's amazing," I exclaimed right as he turned back to his old self again.

"Well, they do know how to make people age appropriately!" he said, laughing and smiling.

"Hey guys, may I crash the party?" a familiar voice said.

"Hey, Slendy!" I said, recognizing the voice right away.

"Nice change, Jeff! Didn't realize you could age so well," he said as he came out from around the trees.

We all chatted a bit, and then Slendy and I broke off from Gemm and Jeff so we could each get some time to do our own thing.

I told Slendy about how my dad was a Proxy, as Zimmy and my mother said, and told him everything that he missed the day of the fire.

"Interesting," he said. "I did have many Proxies, what's your last name again?"

"It's Janis, Crystal Janis." I said, remembering that I never really did give him my last name.

"Is your father Jacob Janis?" he asked.

I said yes right away, recognizing my father's name. He laughed, remembering my father. He said that he was one of his best Proxies, and that he always listened.

"I wished I knew what happened to him," I said, my voice trailing away. "For, you see, he went out one day to go to get some firewood or something, but he never came back. After we sent out a search party, they said that they found him…"

I couldn't finish it, I just couldn't. Slendy just looked at me in that concerned way. He then reached for me and hugged me, which is something he rarely does.

"Listen," he says. "I can tell you what happened, but it's quite brutal. Do you want to hear?"

Of course I said yes, and he began the story.

Pretty much, as I will summarize, Father went out to do his daily deeds for Slendy as a Proxy, and went to hang up more letters and notes to draw victims in. As he was doing so, Rocky, Jeff's devilish fox, stopped him right in his path. To make things short, it was Rocky who killed him. Slendy tried to stop him, but he was too late. He then dragged the body out to the edge of the forest where somebody would find him, which did work.

After the story, my eyes were starting to tear up, and I couldn't stop. All Slendy did was hug me more, whispering word of comfort into my ears as I cried in his shoulder, trying to get the images I had out of my mind. Gemm and Jeff came over, and they saw Slendy and me. Slendy explained what had happened, and Gemm just rubbed my back and took me, hugging me so tight. It was her that took me to the hideout, and tried to help me get over the story.

"It's alright, Crystal," she said, almost crying with me. "I know it's hard, but we'll make Rocky pay for what he's done. We'll make him pay…"

It took me almost an hour to stop, with Jeff and Slendy even coming in to check up on me. I was so glad I had such good friends, and I knew that if the rest of the group were here, we would have the biggest group hug ever. After I was done balling my eyes out, which was really embarrassing, we then just went out and make snow angles, which was so much fun. Once we got the rest of the group to come, we had a **huge** snowball fight, making teams, forts, and stuff like that. I was obviously on Slendy's team, while we fought Jeff's team with the freezing snowballs.

When the day was turning to night, I went home to my mother scolding me for going out when she wanted me to stay in. I then told her that I was finding out stuff about dad, which ended out in one of those 'nice' little parent talks that my mother always has with me, but when she does it, she makes a huge speech out of it. It was like she was being voted for president for something like 'Worlds Best Mom'. I mean, honestly, she tells me the same thing over and over again, and it gets tiring after a while.

"Oh, and I made some cookies for us, since we do have so much pie," she said.

_Cookies? She __**never**__ makes cookies_, I thought, and then looked on the counter. There was a whole plateful of what looked like chocolate chip, sugar, and ginger snap cookies. My mouth almost dropped open. _Now, if only I had these when I was crying earlier…._

"Get them while they're hot!" she said, handing me the plate for me to pick out from the arrangement to cookies.

I picked out one of each cookie. They tasted sweet, but a tat bit bitter. My mother took a bite, and probably tasted a bit bitter to her as well, for she made one of those disgusted faces at it.

"Maybe you should leave the cookies up to me," I said.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll stick to pies. Why don't you go make some Christmas cookies for your friends? I have everything out for you," she exclaimed, pointing to the kitchen.

Every year, I make my special sugar and chocolate chip cookies for my friends and my teachers. I realized my mother had the kitchen in a mess, so I had to clean that up first before I could even start my mess. I then preheated the oven and got out supplies and tools, and began mixing things in, rolling out the dough and making their shapes. Once that was done, I put decorations to the sugar cookies, then baked both to their appropriate time. I made about 60-100 cookies, each warm and smelling delicious. When I was done, I picked out an assortment of cookies on a plate, wrapped them up and put a name of each person on the plate. When I was done, I had about 20 plates, all for teachers and friends. The next day, I went in and handed out the cookies to my teachers. They all were happy to get the plate and heard reviews on them from last year on how good they were. When the day was done, I headed back to my house quick to get the rest, and then headed towards the hideout, with 'Ricky' to help me carry some plates.

"You made **all **these in one day?" he asked.

"I made about 10 more for my teachers," I replied back.

"You're one busy gal," he said, laughing.

"Well," I said. "I enjoy making them. Now be careful with each one, they're fragile!"

It only took a few minutes to get to the hideout, which was full of friends from the _Slender Group._

"OMG, Crystal! You made cookies again!" Gemm said, and everyone rushed over to pick up a plate.

"You make cookies?" Jeff said as he went to grab his.

"It's my little tradition," I said back, smiling.

Everyone tore open the wrapped up plate and dug into the food.

"Holy crud! These things are _**good**_!" Slendy said, munching on one of the sugar cookies.

All I could do was blush. Everyone loved them, and I even dug into one of the cookies from my plate. _HOLY CRUD! Slendy's right, these __**are**__ good! _I thought to myself, shoving more into my mouth. We were just all eating cookies, enjoying my masterpieces.

"Nothing like the one's my mother tried to make," I said. "They came out sort of bitter."

"Ew," Gemm said. "There's nothing more disgusting than a bitter cookie."

"Yeah, nothing like the one girl back at school who made those burnt cookies," Jeff said. "Do you remember her, Slendy?"

"Oh, yeah…." he said. "Old what's-her-name, uh, Emily?"

"I forget her name as well, probably because those cookies sucked," Jeff said, fake throwing-up.

"Jeff!" Gemm said, laughing.

"What, Gemm? I've seen you do worse," he said. "Like the time you saw someone wearing 'ugly' clothing…"

"Oh, yeah…" Gemm said, blushing at the memory. "Well, the whole back was bare, showing nothing but-"

"Oh, I know what you mean, I think I saw that shirt, too," Emma said, cutting her off.

"So, how about we go out in the snow and just do, I don't know, stuff," Zack said. "Like we used to do last year."

"You mean like build a lot of snowmen around our hideout and build that fort?" Sunni asked.

"Oh yeah," Fern said. "I remember that!"

And that's exactly what we did. Slendy and I started one, while Gemm and Jeff started another. The rest went to build a huge fort around our hideout, making different stations and stuff like that so it turned out like a mailing room for snowballs.

"Wow, Crystal and Slendy, nice snowman!" Fern said, looking at our **huge** snowman.

"Oh, thanks!" I said, and Slendy and I just smiled at our awesome snowman, proud of our work.

"C'mon, guys! If you can build that, then you can do and amazing job on our fort!" Zack said, building another section.

I went to go help some of the other guys, building the second snowball-making room. Slendy went to build a huge lookout section, which turned out to be awesome. When we were done, the fort was like a giant army-base. I smiled, having fun with the fort, when I heard footsteps.

"Hide, guys," I told Slendy and Jeff, and they did so, with Slendy turning invisible and Jeff hiding in a nearby tree.

"Crystal, where are you? I was expecting you to be home by now," a voice said, which became my mothers.

"You know I'm always out, Mom, and late, too!" I said, confused why she was even here.

"Crystal, listen. You've got to stop coming out here!" she said, angry with me.

"What'd I do?" I asked, unsure why my mother was so angry.

"You're going to end up just like your father, being in these woods," she said, which made me so confused.

"But I'm **always** out here," I said.

"There's been reports, sweetie, on this, **thing** coming out and attacking children," she said, scared out of her wits when she said it.

"What? Since when?" I asked.

"Since 1998!" she yelled, and I was so confused and scared that I backed up a bit.

"Uh, Mom, what's going on?" I said, starting to hide behind the tree when I bumped into something.

"Watch where you're going," Slendy whispered, which I then realized the thing I bumped into was him.

"Who was that?" my mother asked, and I was shaking with fear.

"Mom, uh, what's that behind your back?" I asked.

"Oh, just incase I see the thing that's been attacking in the forest," she said, and then she hold up the gun from behind her back.

That's when I screamed, shaking with fear. My mother was obviously out of her mind, which only happened one, and that was because of what happened to Dad. I was terrified, and then the unexpected happened. Slendy came out from hiding and grabbed the gun from my mother, breaking it into two.

"W-who's that with you, dear," me mother said, this time with her being afraid.

"This is my friend, Slendy," I said, smiling.

"You! **YOU**!" my mother said in disgust. "You're he one my husband talked about all the time. You're that Slender man guy! Get your hands **off my daughter**!"

Slendy just pulled me away from her, with my mother raising her gun. I was shaking so much.

"Okay, Mom, put the gun down," I said, and she did so, slowly. "Now, tell me, why have you come to get me?'

"Because," she said. "There's been too many people dying out here for unknown reasons, and I don't want you to end up like them," she said.

"Okay, Mom," I said, slowly. "I think something's wrong with you,"

I tried to say it in the nicest way possible, but she just kept yelling nonsense.

"She's **never** like this," I whispered to Slendy. "What made her crack?"

"I don't know," he whispered back. "But someone needs to do something quick,"

I just stayed right with Slendy, not wanting to dare move while my mother was like this. I was scared as ever, and so were my friends, who were now all hiding in the hideout. Jeff stayed hidden in the trees, but even he was scared. I just closed my eyes, trying to wish the nightmare that had become real away. I almost thought somebody was going to get hurt, until a ranger came around the side, and Slendy hid again.

"Um, miss," the ranger said, trying to calm down my mother, but she went crazy.

"She's never like this," I told the ranger, who was calling in for help.

Soon enough, they got one of those sleepy-dart guns out and shot her. They then searched her pockets and found some type of drugs in there.

"Well, we're just going to throw these away, and your mother's just going somewhere where we can help her. She should be back to normal in about a week," the ranger told me, and I thanked her.

"Well, then," Jeff said when they all left.

"What made her do drugs again?" I wondered. "She only did this stuff once, and that was long, long ago."

"Crystal, you okay?" Gemm asked, coming up and hugging me.

"Yah, I'm fine. If anything, I thought Slendy was going to get shot at," I said, still scared to death.

"Aw, c'mon Crystal, you know I can avoid stuff like that," Slendy told me. "At least a gunshot would've just hit one of my tentacles."

"True, but you'd still be hurt," I said.

"Better that having a bullet in the head," he replied, and we just laughed. "Even though I can't die, it would still be painful-"

"Wait, you and Jeff are immortal?" Fern asked.

"Well, yah," Jeff said. "Every Creepy pasta is!"

"Huh," Sunni said, and we all were just amazed.

That night I just went home, and 'Ricky' took care of me. I was still horrified by what happened, but at least 'Ricky' knew what to do.

"Don't worry, Crystal," he said. "This week will go fast, and I just know everything will be fine then."

"I just hope she'll snap back," I said. "I wondered what made her like that."

"I have a feeling it's Rocky," 'Ricky' said. "He'll probably do stuff like that to you now, since he dislikes Creepy pastas being friends with humans."

"That explains everything," I said. "He probably found my mother, then did the unthinkable to her, and now she's like that."

"Uh, oh," 'Ricky' said. "Speak of the devil."

As soon as he said that, a fox made itself into my backyard and was clawing up my tree. 'Ricky' changed to Zimmy and went to attack the evil fox.

"Well, well, well," Rocky said. "Look who finally found out my little plot."

"Just wait till I get my paws on you!" Zimmy said. "For what you did with Crystal's poor mother!"

"What?" the fox said. "All I did was slip some drugs into her coffee,"

"You're sick," I said, crying. "You're sick, twisted, and-"

"Well, be glad she's not dead, nor you're precious Slendy!"

I just cried and ran at the fox, trying to hurt the critter for saying such things.

"Whoa there," Zimmy said. "I've got this."

The cat then shot a laser at the fox, making his fur burn into a blue fire. I know, how can fire be blue? Well, since he used a blue laser, well, the fire just turned blue. I was satisfied when the fox yelped and climbed up the fence to the woods.

"Take that, you evil thing!" Zimmy said, then turned back to 'Ricky'.

"Well, I never realized how dangerous that fox is!"

"Just wait until later," 'Ricky said. "For he can get worse!"

**Chapter Twelve**

_Crystal's Music Box_

I woke up to the day right before Christmas Eve. _Oh, I have to get the presents ready! _I told myself, and grabbed the presents right away and set them in a bag. Oh, and if you're wondering what happened to my mother, she did get out, and she now is just staying in bed until Christmas. Sure she remembers that I know Slendy and the whole bit, but she says that she's actually happy that I'm a friend with him. She said that he'd be like my bodyguard, as he was for Dad. He was already one, and I knew that Jeff would protect me as well, even though we're not as close as friends. After I had the presents in the bag for the next day, I went down to the hideout to water the Christmas tree, since it was my job today. As I was watering the little tree, the guys came into the hideout for our Christmas party we were having today.

"We've brought the plates and plastic silverware," Zack said.

"I've even brought some containers for leftovers," Matt said, taking out the plastic tubs.

"Great!" I said, happy that they remembered their things.

The girls then started to come in with the food, and the Creepy pastas then just came in, helping out with stuff.

"This is going to be awesome!" Jewel said, smiling.

We've just got Jewel to accept Slendy and Jeff into the group, which took her a bit to get used to. She liked Jeff the most, since she was around him a bit more. As for Slendy, she liked him too, but not as much. I guess it's because of his tentacles, which I seem to find friendly, but I guess she sees them as scary, black things.

"Wow, Crystal, how much food do we need?" Jeff asked, looking at all the food.

"We're going to have a lot of people here, so I guess you guys got to hide, or something."

"Ah, don't worry, I've got my disguise," Jeff said, then turned into 'Greg', who looked just like Jeff, but without the cut mouth and had eyebrows.

"Don't worry about me," Slendy said. "I'll come back later."

"Okay," I said.

After everyone started to come, I saw that 'Greg' and Gemm stated to kiss under misled toe, which they now do a lot. I then went around to the food, and I then saw that Nathan guy again, who was standing there, alone and shy.

"Hey there!" I said, coming to him. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Well, in a month," He said, laughing. "I'm glad to see you!"

"I've heard you know 'Ricky'," I said, pointing over to 'Ricky', who was eating a whole bunch of sweets.

"Oh, yah, I know him," Nathan said. "Though, he seems a bit, uh, 'busy'"

"Yah, and he says I know you, too, but I can't place from where," I said.

"I know you all too well," he said, smiling a sly smile. "But I'm going to let you figure out who I am."

"Oh, Mr. Wise Guy, huh?" I joked. "Well, then, tell me something that only a couple of people would know."

"I know you're Slender man's Proxy, and that you're the only 'blue' Proxy," he said, his sly smile getting wider.

I blinked; surprised that he was **that** close of a friend.

"Okay, then, what do I do on free time?" I asked.

"That's easy, you write music, which is amazing, if you ask me," he said, which surprised me again. "I have to listen to the _Slender Woods_ one, which I've heard that it's one of the most beautiful songs ever."

"I have it right here," I said, pulling out my phone and ear buds.

We then listened to it together over the background Christmas music. He was humming along, and he was really good.

"You're a good hummer," I said.

"Oh, that's nothing," he said, then began to sing the song 'Deck the Halls', and he was **really**, **really** good. I began to sing with him, and our voices started to blend together, and everyone gathered around as we sang, and no one joined in, because the harmony was **that** good. When we were done, the whole hideout shook with the sound of clapping.

"Wow," Nathan said when the clapping stopped. "You're good!"

"Not as good as you," I said, and we smiled at each other.

I felt like I've known the guy for a long time, yet this is only the second time I've seen him, or have I? If I know the guy, and he was that tight to me, then could I be seeing him a lot?

"Oh, Crystal," he said. "Will you join me by the punch bowl?"

"Of course!" I said. "I'd love to."

The then took my hand and headed over to the bowl full of fruit punch and he landed me right under the misled toe.

"Though kissing might be too soon," he said. "At least I can do this!"

He then leaned over and hugged me, and hard. The hug felt all too familiar, and I was blushing all over when he kissed me on the cheek.

"Why blush?" he said. "Is it too much?"

"No," I whispered. "It's perfect!"

"Okay, Nathan, you're stealing my thing," 'Greg' said, as he kissed Gemm full on, mouth to mouth.

"Whoa, there!" Nathan said, looking to the two kissing. "Who said I was stealing your thing?"

"Dude, I thought we've agreed on this? I'm the guy that makes out with the gal, while you sit there, lonely and depressed," 'Greg' said, looking at Gemm

"What?' Nathan said, then got closer to 'Greg' and, which I still heard, whispered, "Okay, Jeff, do you want me to hit you or not?"

"Fine, fine," 'Greg' said, and took Gemm to the other corner.

"Okay, what was that about?" I asked Nathan.

"Nothing," he said in an all too familiar voice. "Join me outside, for we shall take our business outside."

"Okay," I said, and let Nathan go outside, and I went to scope for 'Greg', who was eating with Gemm. "May I talk with your boyfriend, Gemm?"

"I know why, so go ahead and take him," she said, shoving 'Greg' at me.

I ran him the other side of the hideout, mad as ever.

"Okay, what the heck?" I yelled at him. "Are you trying to be a jerk to him?"

"You still have no idea who he is, and you're defending him?" 'Greg' said, shaking his head. "If you only knew-"

"Knew what? Who he was?" I said. "Because all I care about is that he's a sweet guy who needs a good friend right now, and I'm being that friend."

"Okay, sheesh!" 'Greg said, starting to go back to Gemm, but I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him into the snow. "What the heck?"

"Okay, seriously?" I said. "Apologize, **right now**!"

'Greg' then went to Nathan, apologizing, and the came back.

"There, better?" he asked.

"Better, now you can go back to kissing your gal, who's also my BFF!" I told him as he went inside, annoyed.

"Are you okay?" I asked Nathan once I've found him.

"I'm fine," he said, and I huddled up next to him. "I just wish Jeff had a better attitude once in a while."

"Ah, don't listen to him, for he's a jerk face," I told him, and he smiled as I gave him a light kiss on the cheek. "What, too much?"

He laughed right after I said that, and we just sat down at the base of the tree, drawing in the snow with a stick.

"I wish that he would be more caring, sometimes. After that stupid vision, he was never the same, as I've heard Splendor say," Nathan said. "Since the two used to be great pals. Those were the good ol' days."

He sighed, then drew a picture of a Christmas tree in the snow, and began to sing a song I've never heard of before.

If I had one wish to use

And If I had to use it now

I'd use it to give peace on earth

And stop the wars that destroy most lives

And If I could use another wish

And I had to use it now

I would grant every persons wish

And I would solve all problems that would make other strive

To live and be happy

And If I had one last Christmas wish

To use today

I'd make the poor wealthy

And the wealthy pay

To help others in need

Yes, that's my Christmas wish, indeed

Though the song's melody was I bit odd, I was surprised at the lyrics. I never realized how he just wanted everything to be right in the world, and I started to sing along. We sang as loud as we can, and I guess Gemm came out to check on us when she heard us singing, and she joined in. Others started to come out, singing the song of wishes until the whole forest could hear the song. Some of the rangers came by and joined in, and then more people joined until the whole town was singing and the streets were filled with the song. Some people even video taped it and captured it on camera. It was a beautiful sight, and a beautiful sound. I smiled when I looked into Nathan's eyes. After the song was over and everyone went back to his or her normal lives, I've asked him where the song came from.

"It came from within," he said, pointing to his heart. "I made it up, so that when everything goes wrong in the world, that the song would be the plea of peace."

"It was one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard," I said, and I gave him another kiss on the cheek, but it was not as light. "I was waiting forever to find someone with a heart like yours."

We then went back inside, and I got the group together to go caroling around town. I invited Nathan to go with us, and he gladly accepted. With Nathan in the choir, all of our voices blended together nicely, and we actually made a couple of bucks while just singing. When we counted up the money halfway, we already made 20 bucks!  
"Keep this up, and then the money will be great!" Zack said. "But what should we do with it?"

"I say we donate it!" Nathan said, and I agreed with him.

"At least we won't spend it on something stupid," I said, and we all laughed.

"Then it's settled," Gemm said. "We'll donate the money and then we'll keep about five bucks for hideout supplies."

We all agreed to that, and kept on caroling. When we were done, Nathan gave me a small box.

"I know you'll get another one from me," he said. "But here's a Christmas present for you, and I want you to open it on Christmas, okay?"

"Okay, but is it fragile?" I asked.

"Nope, so you should be fine!" he said, and then he looked at the starry sky. "I should probably get home, so Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!"

"Bye," I said, and he then headed home, wherever his home was.

We all headed back to the hideout, which was now empty of people. I then saw Slendy hiding behind a tree, waiting to see me.

"Are they all gone?" he asked.

"Yep," I said. "You're safe."

He came out from behind the tree, and he kept me warm as we headed inside.

"So, I see you found Nathan, huh?" he said, smiling at me. "And you guys kissing?"

"Uh," I said, blushing. "He started it!"

"Yah, then you continued it!" he laughed, and I gave him a playful shove.

"Will you guys cut it out!" 'Greg' said, and then turned back into Jeff.

"C'mon, Jeffery!" Gemm said. "You've done enough teasing for one day."

Jeff was starting to get annoyed, but then Gemm gave a full on kiss with him, and he loved it.

"Now see, here we have two mating animals, each of a new species," Slendy whispered to me, and I kept having to hold back my laugh.

"I heard that!" Jeff said after he finished the kiss, and then started chasing after Slendy.

"Want to go get the guys back before they ruin the place?" I asked Gemm.

"Nah," she said. "I'd give them a few more minutes. Lets just go and clean up the place before the real mess begins."

It only took a bit to clean up the place, then I headed back home with Nathan's present, and I kept it in the secret compartment of my desk, and then I went to sleep, dreaming about what was in the box.

The next day was pretty much the same, except we laid our presents under the tiny tree for the next day, and I wanted to tear into each present, and so did Splendor, so we had to get everyone out of the hideout until the next day.

"I'm sad that I have to come late," I said. "But, family comes first."

"Ah, well, just be glad you can even come," Gemm said, smiling as we started another snowman together.

This snowman became tinier than the other two, but it still was a cool snowman. After putting on the usual carrot nose, button eyes, coal mouth, a scarf and hat like the other two, the snowman was as tall as me, and was standing right in front of the other two giant ones. I then heard a couple of voices from around the trees, and they weren't familiar voices.

"Oh, no, not these guys again," Jeff said, and Zimmy shot a warning laser.

"What the heck?" A clown voice said, but it was more insane than Splendor's.

"Laughing Jack?" Slendy said as a black and white clown came out of the trees.

The clown had a long, pointy nose that was stripped in black and white. He wore regular clown clothing, but, of course, in black and white. His hair was just like Jeff's, but more matted.

But the clown wasn't alone, for there was another man with him. He looked just like Link from that one video game, but he had bloody red eyes and was shorter.

"Hey, Jeff!" the elf-like person said.

"Sup Ben," Jeff said, going over to the elf.

"And everyone forgets about me. Typical," Laughing Jack said, then eyed at me. "And who are these, Slendy? Making human friends?"

"Okay, look, their Proxies," Slendy said, and we all showed are markings, but the two eyed at mine the most.

"Whoa, a blue Proxy! You've got a lucky pick," Ben said, touching my marking, but I pulled it away.

"Where's Appy?" Jeff asked, looking around.

"Oh, he got caught," Ben said. "Yah, went to jail yesterday. Poor fella."

"Weird," Slendy said. "Happy Appy never got caught before."

"Okay," I finally said. "Who are all these guys?"

"Crystal," Jeff said. "These are all my old buddies from school. We call Laughing Jack L.J., Ben just Ben, and Happy Appy just Appy. Get used to these guys, for they like to come to visit me sometimes."

"And, what, to wish you a Merry Christmas?" Gemm asked.

"Pretty much," L.J. said, then watched as Jeff hugged her.

"Oh, you're Gemm!" Ben said. "You're Jeff's gal!"

"Oh, so who's _that_?" L.J. asked, looking at me.

"That's Crystal, the one I've told you about," Slendy said, giving me a friendly hug.

"Oh, so she's **just** a friend," L.J. said. "Yah, okay."

"Hey, what my bro says is true!" Splendor said, looking at L.J. with angry eyes. "And don't make me show my angry side…"

"Fine, fine," L.J. said. "Hey, where was Rocky? I saw him a while ago, spying on you guys-"

"WHAT?" I said. "That guy has been trying to kill me ever since I've met Slendy."  
"Oh, he changed again?" Ben said. "Poor Rocky seems he jealous. He did this once with Slendy's one Proxy. The guy was just trying not to…"

"That was her father," Slendy said, and Ben wished he hadn't said anything.

"So, now that we've been introduced," Jewel said. "What should we do now?"

"Snowball fight?" Zack said.

"YEAH!" pretty much everyone said.

Again, I was on Slendy's team and the rest of the Creepy pastas, along with Gemm and some others. I've gotten a few good hits, and we were laughing and having fun until the sun went down. We then went home to wait until Christmas morning, but I couldn't stop wondering what was in Nathan's box. I was almost going to open it, but then I thought _It'd be easier if you wait until you open the others, for it'll be easier to guess who it is_. That thought sent me right to bed to wait for the next morning.

As I was dreaming, I saw weird visions in my sleep. They could've been prophecies, but it didn't make any sense, or did it? I dreamt that I was at a ball or prom, and I was talking with Gemm. I then looked around, and I then see Nathan, in a suit and a red tie. He was trying to ask girls to dance, but each denied it. I then went over to him, and it was I who asked him to dance. He was surprised at first, and then accepted. We danced and danced, and I was just looking into his blue eyes. I then saw that he was wearing a chain, which I then asked what it was. He then holds it up and showed a crystal that matched my eyes, and I hugged him. I don't know why I hugged him, but it somehow makes a bright light shimmer around him, making him grow taller and slimmer-

**BEEP BEEP BEEP**

_NO!_ I thought in my head. _Who did he turn into?_ I then started to lose the memory of his structure after I hugged him, but then I realized it was morning. _What day's it again?_ I asked, and looked at my calendar.

"Wait a minute, it's CHRISTMAS!" I yelled as soon as I've gotten my head to work again.

I rushed downstairs to look at the tree, which was filled with gifts. My mother was out of bed already, drinking a cup of hot cocoa.

"You were sleep walking again," she said.

"Merry Christmas!" I said to her, and she laughed.

"Merry Christmas honey, now open up your gifts if you want to go outside to the hideout, since it sounds like a lot of fun!" she said.

I wasn't surprised at my mother's suddenly cheery mood. She's always like this on Christmas day, no matter what's going on. I can't remember a Christmas where she's sad.

I started to open up my gifts. I've gotten a lot of nice sweaters, a few shoes and boots, couple of earrings, and then it came down to the last present. I opened it up, and I found a disk inside.

"What's this?" I asked.

"It's for your laptop," Mother said. "When you plug it in, you can then write and keep music with and on that disk. I found it in the store one day, and I thought of you when I saw it."

"Thanks!" I said, and I gave her a present from me.

She opened it, and found a lovely scarf inside.

"Did you knit this?" She asked, and I nodded. "Oh, this is beautiful! Thanks, sweetie!"

"You're welcome," I said. "Now, I've got to go-"

"Yes, of course," she said. "Now be careful and have fun!"

I grabbed my pink coat and headed outside to the snowy scenery, which was perfect for the holiday. I went to the woods where the hideout was, and I already saw the group there.

"Slendy, Jeff and Splendor were already here and left before we even came," Gemm said. "But they all left a present for you!"  
I went to grab each of the gifts the Creepy pastas left for me. I then opened each gift from my friends, and I gave them all their gifts of the tiny stuffies.

"Oh, these are **so cute**!" Fern said.

"I love mine," Katy said, holding up the little giraffe.

"I remember the one you gave me last year," Gemm said. "It was the little bat, and it was so cute!"

"I'm glad you like them," I said.

I gave Zimmy his gift as well, and he couldn't stop playing with it on the floor. I looked at the gifts that they gave me, which were pretty much jewelry and a couple of notebooks for my music writings. We then hanged out and chat, and then I went home with the other wrapped gifts in the bag. Zimmy then handed me a small box, smiling his kitty smile.

"I bought this with some money I've found," he said, and I opened the box.

I then found a tiny piccolo in it, and it was a light blue color, just like the bedroom walls.

"Oh, Zimmy!" I said, and then hugged the cat. "It's wonderful, thank you!"

"C'mon," he said. "Play a note!"

I tested it out, and the sound was a beautiful, clear pitch.

"Wow…" I whispered.

I then took out the other gifts from the bag, and I then realized they each had notes on the bottom.

_I like my sword_ was what Jeff put.

_Awesome gift_ was Splendors reply.

I then had gotten to Slendy's note, which actually made me laugh.

_This was a thoughtful gift, and I guess it's time I do read my own legend._

"Okay," I thought out loud. "Time to see what Nathan had given me."

I looked at the small box that was wrapped in a red and white-stripped paper. I was careful and slowly ripped the paper. I then opened the lid, and I couldn't believe my eyes. I found one sheet of music that was a bit dirty, and I looked hard at it.

"No," I whispered. "It can't be…"

But it was. It was the missing music I've lost when I gave Slendy the thank-you present. I touched the paper, read it, and then remembered the melody. I began to sing it, and a creepy chill went down my spine. _This was the melody to the song he made up!_ I thought, matching up the tune with the words. I then sang along, and when I was done, Zimmy's jaw dropped when he realized what I was thinking.

"Wow…" he said. "If you knew the person Nathan really was, you would've hugged him so tight that his face would turn blue!"

"I would hug Nathan anyways if he were here right now!" I said, then flipped over the paper, and found a note.

_My dear Crystal,_ it said. _I've found this in the woods the one day on the ground, and recognized the writing. I thought you should have it back, and it made a nice tune for a song._

The next thing he put was the lyrics to the song. I then opened up the presents to the others, and I was overjoyed with the gifts. Of course, Splendor gave me one of those slide whistles, which is typical. Jeff gave me a disk that had my popular song _Slender Woods_ on it, and then I came to Slendy's.

His was bigger than the rest, and was a bit heavy too. The top of the box said "Fragile", and I gently opened the box. I then took out the item inside, and I found a music box. It was beautiful, and matched the spruce wood of my furniture in my bedroom. I opened the box to hear it play the music, and my mouth dropped open farther than it ever had before.

The music it was playing was the same melody of the music Nathan gave back to me.

**Chapter Thirteen**

_The Bus Hideout_

My mouth didn't close up until Zimmy said, "Okay, now **this** is probably creepy to you, but since I know who Nathan is, this is actually pretty cool."

"This melody," I whispered to the cat. "It's been used by **both** of them, and they both used it to impress me…"

"Well, I actually helped Slendy a bit on the music box," the cat said. "Since his abandoned house had a lot of broken ones, we fixed the one and made the melody of your song be the tune for this box. It wasn't too hard, but since I'm a skilled woodworker…"

"But, how'd Nathan get it if he found it in the snow and Slendy found it, too?" I said, listing to the box play the music over and over again.

"Well," he said. "That's for you to find out. If I told you, it wouldn't be enchanting, now would it?"

"True," I said. "True…"

The next couple of months went easy, but there was still something unnerving about Splendor. It seems whenever he's with us, he just _stares_ at me, then at Slendy, then…. Well, you get the idea. I started to get even more creep out when he was leaving an hour early, then coming back five minutes right before we leave. He even mutters to himself once in a while, and then the scary part came. He then stopped smiling and kept a strait face, and his eyes start to turn red sometimes. I get creep out a lot, and I finally said something about it to Slendy.

"So, I'm not the only one who noticed this change?" he said. "Thank gosh, for a second there, I thought I was going crazy!"  
"What do you think happened?" I asked.

"Probably L.J. or Ben," he said. "Maybe even Appy, but who knows. Could be Trendy for all I care!"

"Trendy's your brother, right?" I asked.

"Yah," he said. "The younger one."

"Okay," I said, starting to piece things together. "I'm still new to this whole thing."

"I know," he said. "If you meet Trendy any time, which I prefer you don't, just try not to talk to him about, well, fashion-"

"I know," I said. "You've told me so many times about you're crazy family."

We just laughed, and then talked about random stuff like legends and stuff like that. I then realized that there was barking in the background, and I saw Smile come running towards us, scared to death.

"What is it boy?" I asked the dog. "Where's Jeff?"

The dog just whined, then barked and headed for the trees.

"Follow that dog!" Slendy said, and we did so.

Smile led us deep into the forest, so deep that I couldn't see a familiar place. I then heard screaming, and I then heard the voice of Rocky.

"Oh my-" I started, but then got cut off by screaming again.

I came to a scene of Jeff trying to battle Rocky, who was now 'Kyan', and it was becoming a bloody battle between Jeff's knives and 'Kyan's' whip.

"Since when did you have a whip?" I asked the villain.

"And since when do you interrupt me during my kill," he said, brutally. "If you really want to see what this thing can do, I'll snap it at you!"

What then happened next became so brutal, that I have to leave details out of the picture.

'Kyan' then got stabbed in the neck by one of Jeff's knives, and Slendy grabbed hold of the evil kid with one of his tentacles and pinned him to a tree. Jeff then kept stabbing 'Kyan' until he changed back into a fox from probably blood loss, and then Jeff took out the sword I gave him for Christmas, and started stabbing him with that. It was so bloody, I had to turn away and keep my eyes closed.

"It's okay, Crystal," Jeff then said. "The fox is gone, though it's still pretty bloody, so you might not want to look…"

"I'll take her back, you just clean this place up," Slendy said, then grabbed me by the hand and walked me back.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"Beat's me," he said. "But I know it wasn't good if Jeff was getting hurt."

I didn't dare look back, for the whole ground is probably covered in blood. _That fox disserved it,_ I said to myself. _After what he did to Mother…_

"Don't worry," Slendy then said. "They'll both be fine. They're immortal anyway, so it'll just hurt for a while."

"I guess you're right," I said. "After all that fox did…"

"Hey guys!" Jeff called from the trees. "You'll never guess what I found!"

"What?" I asked. "Is it another one of my music sheets again? I can't seem to keep them where they should be."

"No, it's even better yet!" he said, and we began to follow him, that is, until he clutched his bloody stomach.

"Uh, are you… alright?" I asked, noticing his stomach had a huge cut mark on it, and I was almost certain that his guts were showing.

"I'll… be… fine," he slowly said. "Nothing… but… a little… cut…"

"Uh, I think you should go back to the hideout," I said, and we carried him back. "I know there's a first aid kit here… ah, there it is!"

"What's going on?" Gemm said. "OMG! JEFF!"

"I'm… fine," he sad, but clearly he wasn't.

"I'll get the kit," Gemm said, as Slendy was trying to hold Jeff up as best as he can. "This might sting,"

Gemm put some medicine on the cut, and the screaming from Jeff wasn't appealing. When the cut was finally bandaged up, we told Gemm everything that happened.

"Oh, so you just went to fight with no reason?" Gemm said.

"No," Jeff said when he finally had the breath to. "He was coming after us. Anyway, I found this really cool place, and I think it's Rocky's hideout."

"Why'd you think that?" Slendy asked.

"Because it had a whole bunch of potions and magic books," Jeff said. "It also had some game in there, fresh and with claw marks all over them."

"That's defiantly Rocky's hideout," Slendy said. "So, are you well enough to take us to it?"

"I'll be fine," he said, and got up.

"Well, I'm coming with you guys," Gemm said. "So Jeff's okay."

"Fine," I said. "We're probably going to need lookout anyway."

We then followed Jeff all the way into the forest and to where we got our Christmas tree until there was a little clearing. He led us through the trees and into a meadow, and in the middle of that meadow was a black object.

"Is that it?" Gemm asked.

"Yep," Jeff said, and we went strait toward it.

The hideout was an old school bus, broken down and rusted. It was not a big bus, but it would make a great hideout. Slendy stayed on lookout while Jeff, Gemm and I went inside the bus. The seats and everything were still in, and under each seat were some magic items. Where the first aid kit would've been was a sack full of money, which we assumed he either found or stolen it, and a back full of small game. Towards the back was a larger bag with much bigger game, and behind the bag were some small blankets and a feathered pillow.

"Yep," I said. "This must be Rocky's hideout. So, I guess we'll take the magic books and potions first?"

"Are you sure you want to take them out?" Gemm asked. "It's one thing to be in here, but it's another thing to steal."

"After what he's been trying to do?" Jeff exclaimed. "I think he needs a little wake-up call!"  
"Oh, all right," Gemm said. "But only the books and potions, I don't think we need any rotten meat!"

I packed all the potions in my backpack, and then grabbed the first book.

"Um, Crystal…" Gemm said.

"What?" I asked, and then realized what she was staring at.

As soon as I touched the book, the symbol on my arm started to glow. It was a pretty glow, but it's still unusual. We just gasped at the glowing mark on my arm, just waiting to see what would happen next.

"Uh, guys?" I heard Slendy say from outside. "Are you guys doing fine? Everything just got silent."

"We're fi-" I began to say.

"Slendy, come in here and look at Crystal's arm!" Jeff yelled, and Slendy came in right away.

"Is this _normal_?" I asked him as soon as he got in.

"Well," he said. "This never happened before. I'm guessing it has something to do with you being the blue Proxy."

"Weird," I said, then swayed my hand out, and a whole bunch of stuff went flying out of midair.

I just gasped as I began to magically move stuff with my arm. I blinked, and then suddenly realized what was going on. _I have powers? I have POWERS!_ I said in my mind as a smile lit up my face.

"What else can you do?" Jeff asked, as they all awed at my new abilities.

I then realized I could do a whole bunch of stuff. I could make fire and snow appear and disappear, I could turn invisible, and I could make things and people levitate (except for myself, which sucks).

"I wonder if touching the book makes you do these things," Slendy said. "Try doing it again without touching the book."

I did, and I still had my powers.

"This is **so **cool!" I said, looking at my hands and smiling.

"Just be careful," Slendy said. "For who knows what those kinds of things can do!"

"Make me float again!" Jeff plead, and I did so, having him just float in midair.

"This is awesome!" he said as he hung in the air, and I gently put him down.

"So, like, I guess you can defend yourself ageist Rocky then," Gemm said, and I realized she was right.

If I can outmatch Rocky, then I can stop him! It's a big responsibility, but I think I'll just save my powers for when I need them most.

"Oh, guys, here comes Jerk Face!" Jeff said, and I knew he meant Rocky, so I turned invisible with Slendy and Gemm and Jeff went to hide in the trees.

The funny part is, Slendy and I can see each other when we're invisible, and we can communicate and touch one another, too, and I guess it's because of the whole Proxy part. I then realized that my powers are also visible when I'm invisible, so I got the backpack hidden easy. As soon as the fox came in, he noticed the books and potions were gone.

"Okay, if they want to mess with me, they're going to be sorry!" the fox said after a minute of searching.

I then made fire appear in front of his eyes, and then made him float in the air. The fox was obviously still hurt, but not as bad as Jeff was. I then lightly smashed Rocky against the bus wall, and I appeared. I could still make out Slendy, though I wasn't invisible anymore, and I realized that he was concerned about me showing myself.

"Oh, so you read my books?" the fox said, then saw my arm glowing. "No, this can't be! You can't be the blue Proxy! The prophecy was false!"

I ignored the fox and made fire appear and did a whole bunch of stuff to mess with him.

"Now," I told Slendy, and he knew exactly what to do.

He appeared and grabbed the fox and banged him against the wall with his tentacles. The fox struggled, and then turned into 'Kyan'.

"Okay, I give up!" the boy said, and Slendy loosened his grip. "NOT!"

The fox to a bite out of the tentacle holding his, and Slendy screeched in pain.

"NO!" I shouted, and grabbed 'Kyan' by the neck and pushed him hard on the wall. "You don't hurt him!"

"Oh, so this little miss is going to save you!" 'Kyan' said sarcastically to Slendy. "Ha, **good luck**!"

I then kept picking up the boy with my powers, dropping him hard on the floor until the boy turned back into a fox.

"You don't know who you're messing with," the fox said, and then shot a blue laser at me, knocking me to the ground.

Well, that angered Slendy more than it did me, and that's when Zimmy found us and kept shooting the fox with blue lasers until he scampered off.

"And STAY OUT!" Zimmy called after the fox. "Okay, so tell me, what happened?"

I explained the whole thing to the cat, and he looked at my mark again.

"So, the prophecy is true?" the cat said. "Then could all the not-so-evil be accepted again?"

"What prophecy?" I asked.

"Crystal," Zimmy said. "You must listen carefully and closely when I tell you this. You see, when Jeff had his 'dream', we left the part out about Slendy. You see, in Jeff's dream, he saw a young girl come up and almost kill him. Then he saw Slendy say something like 'Don't you dare hurt my Crystal', or something like that. That's when Jeff woke up. When the Council of the Creepy pastas got together, they realized it was a prophecy, but it could've been false. They realized that the girl in the dream had a Proxy symbol, but it was blue. They said that she could be either evil or good. If she's evil, then she's going to destroy the world, or something like that. If she's good, then she will make all the 'good' Creepy pastas accepted again for who they are."

"That makes sense," I said. "But how did they realize that the girl had the symbol?"

"Well," Slendy said. "The Council has many machines, and one can see into past and present dreams. I know it sounds weird, but it's true. Most of the guys think the girl's you, and that you're good. Of course I think the same, and I know the whole 'End of the World' thing is fake."

"Huh," was all I could say. "So, like, this whole thing was meant to be?"

"I guess," Zimmy said. "And I was sent out to see if there's even a girl who was like the one in the dream, and that's when I found you!"

"It all makes sense!" I said. "Now, to find out who the heck that Nathan guy is…"

"Oh, you will, Crystal," Slendy said. "Oh, you will!"

The next several days, I took the group out to the bus, and we made it our own. Frist thing we did was got the game out of the bus. Next, we took the magic books and potions out. Then, we took each of the seats out and all that was left was the driver's seat and the buttons up front, and we got them working again. Next, we found a mattress and a couch in the dump (don't worry, we cleaned them **well** and we fixed them up so they're good as new) and we even got some shades for the widows. Then, we put up some posters and more Christmas lights around the place. Then, I decided to re-paint the bus in awesome neon colors. When we were done, it reminded me of one of those buses the Hippies always drove in, but way cooler and bigger. The neon colors were striped diagonally, and it only took me a day to paint them. The bus does drive, but we keep it off and we agreed only to drive it in case of an emergency. I even added some window stickers to the bus, and we each added our own thing inside the bus. I added a beanbag and donated some sun chips for munching on. The second hideout was just as good as _Slender Hideout_, so we name this one _Splendor Hideout_ because it was so colorful. I then started to wonder what ever happened to Slendy's older brother. I never see him anymore, and the last time I did, I thought he was going to show that bloody face again.

"Hey," I said to the group. "Okay, I've got to know if you guys have realized this, but isn't Splendor acting a bit… Creepy lately?"

"Yah!" Gemm said. "Like how he doesn't smile anymore!"

"And how his eyes are all red," Zack said. "I thought it was just me!"

"Slendy notices as well," I told them. "And we're both concerned. I think the guy's going through something."

"Like what?" Emma asked.

"I'm not sure, but it's creeping me out."

"Yah, us too Crystal," Zack said. "Us too…"

"Hey guys!" Jewel said as she came into the bus. "Jeff told me where you guys were. Nice hideout by the way, oh, and Gemm, Mom want's you home to clean your room."

Jewel then grabbed Gemm by the arm, dragging her out of the bus.

"Bye, guys!" Gemm said, and then got pulled out of the bus by her little sister.

Then, one by one, parts of the group started to leave until it was just Zack and I.

"Okay," Zack said. "You know that Nathan guy that was at the Christmas party?"

"Yah," I said, confused on why he brought the topic up. "What'd you wanna know?"

"Well, I'm just wondering…" he said slowly, then spat out, "Are you two boyfriend and girlfriend? I saw you guys kiss each other a bit, and, I'm just wondering…"

"No," I kindly said. "We're not. He's just fooling around, that's all. I'm just wondering why you asked?"

"Well…" he said shyly. "I kind of…"

"What? _Like_ me?" I asked, and he nodded a bit. "Look, we're good friends, but I don't know if I'm ready for you…"

"It's okay," Zack said, blushing a bit. "I knew you're not into me-"

"No, it's not that," I said. "It's just… it seems weird, don't you think? I mean, what will the other's think?"

"Yah, I guess you're right," he said, and we walked each other out until I saw 'Ricky'.

"Hey, 'Ricky'! What are ya doing here?" I asked as the boy ran up to me.

"Sup!" he said, and then looked at Zack. "What're you two doing?"

"Just… uh… talking," Zack said.

"Good!" 'Ricky' said. "Because Slendy want's Crystal in the other hideout, like, NOW!"

"Well," I said to Zack. "Got to run!"

He said goodbye, and I ran off with 'Ricky'.

"So," I asked. "What's really going on?"

"It seems like there's been a riot going on by your house," 'Ricky' said. "And there's a bunch of people looking for you."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"I… um… don't really know," he said. "But Slendy want's to scare the heck out of them with you!"

"Typical," I said, then sighed. "I guess I have time…"

And that's exactly what I did the rest of the day; making the house seem haunted and stuff like that with all of the Creepy pastas, even with L.J. and Ben. By the time we were done, we were laughing like crazy.

"Okay, okay," I finally said when I had the breath. "That was like… the BEST thing we ever did!"

"Yah," Jeff said. "And with you and Slendy just popping out of nowhere was one of the best parts!"

"I guess we make a good team," Slendy said.

"Well, of course!" L.J. said. "She's your Proxy, after all, and she's the blue Proxy!"

"Well, that is true…" Ben said. "It's like… they were meant to doo stuff like this as a team…"

I just grinned at Slendy, and he grinned back. I then saw a flash of something appeared out of nowhere. The vision hit me back a bit.

"Uh, Crystal?" Slendy asked. "Something wrong?"

"I just saw a vision of something…" I said, and the vision appeared again, and I could clearly make out the image of Nathan. "There it was again!"

"What'd you see?" Jeff asked.

"It was that Nathan guy," I said, catching my breath. "It was his face… just staring at me."

"Weird," L.J. said.

"Hey, guys," Ben said. "Do you wanna get pizza or something? I think we could use a celebration for that awesome show!"

I just shook my head, and then said, "Fine, but you're going to pay!"

Then I invited Gemm for our small pizza party, which was pretty awesome, and the whole time I got to know Ben better. We just played video games until I beat him at it.

"Dang," he said. "This gal got skills!"

I just laughed as we all played multiplayer teams, which was so much fun. Slendy and I did make a good team, no matter what we were doing. It was kind of cool, but yet unusual. Most Proxies, like my dad, were like slaves, but I'm _different_. I felt it wasn't anything to do with being the blue Proxy, either. No, this was friendship I had with Slendy, and it was a real good one, too. It was like I've known him for years. I smiled as we played the game, but the whole time I've thought about all the people who were scared of the guy, and my friends and I were the only people who could truly appreciate who they were. When they all left, and it was just Gemm and I, I told her my thoughts.

"That is weird," she said. "I guess you two were meant to be. And I mean friends, not the other thing."

"Huh," I said. "It should feel awkward, but it feels normal. I wonder what _he_ thinks."

"Probably the same," Gemm said. "The guy literally shares expressions with you!"

"You know what, that is true!" I said, noticing the stuff we had in common.

I then heard Zimmy come in.

"Let me guess, you heard it all," I said.

"Yah," he shyly said. "And it's not creepy that you think these things. Oh, no, the creepy thing is that Slendy thinks the same exact thing about you!"

**Chapter Fourteen**

_Slender Man's House_

"WHAT! NO WAY!" I said, surprised.

"Yah, way!" he said. "You should just hear the guy!"

I laughed, knowing I was right.

"So, like, is it really meant to be?" she asked, then winked at Zimmy.

"What's with the wink?" I asked.

"What wink?" Zimmy and Gemm said at the same time.

"Okay, what's going on?" I asked.

"You wouldn't want to hear it," Gemm said. "For it's between me and Zimmy and 'Ricky'."

"Oh, fine then!" I said, angry that they couldn't tell me.

"Don't be mad Crystal," Gemm said. "It's just that we think-"

"DON'T TELL HER!" Zimmy said before Gemm could spit it out.

"Fine, I guess I'll just nag about it anyway, right?" I asked, still disappointed.

"Yah," Gemm and Zimmy said at the same time.

I just went up to my room and took out the music Nathan gave me. I then played it on the piccolo Zimmy gave me for Christmas, and the sound was sweet and clear. I just smiled, playing the little instrument, and playing Nathan's song he made up that was also my notes and the theme to Slendy's music box. I fell in love with the song more than I did with any of the others. I played it over and over again until Gemm and Zimmy came up to see how I was doing.

"You seriously love that piccolo?" Zimmy asked. "Great, I'm glad I got it."

"Of course I love it!" I said. "I also love the custom made color! I'm just trying to figure out this whole music thing between the music box and Nathan's gift."

"That's pretty much what's the secret between me and Zimmy is about" Gemm said. "For Zimmy told me who Nathan was, and I'm still surprised he kissed you!"

"Hey guys, wanna check out the magic stuff and potions that we got from Rocky?" Zimmy asked, opening my backpack.

"You mean Jerk-face?" I said. "Then HECK YESSSSSS!"

We open up the first book out of the seven that were there, and I started to read out loud to the others. Book after book, it was all a series of how-to do magic, as we found out. I then tried to see what the potions did by taking spiders we found outside and giving them a drop of each potion. The orange one killed the spider, the blue one froze it to death, the yellow one made it burst into fire, and the green made it color-change.

"Give me that color-changing one!" Zimmy said, trying to take the potion, but I grabbed it away from him just in time.

"Now, come on, you know you shouldn't drink this stuff!" I said as I recapped the glasses and put the potions back in the bag. "It's bad enough that we even read and played with this stuff, I don't think we should drink it either. Look what happened to the spider of the green potion now!"

The spider was now dead and the color pink, then it exploded.

"See, they're all poison!" I said, and the two put everything back in my backpack.

After toying around with other stuff, Gemm finally went home and Zimmy curled up with me on the couch.

"So," I said. "Can you at least give me _hints_ on who Nathan is?"

"I can give you one," he said. "And it's that Nathan's true form knows you very, **very** well."

I thought of a couple of people that could be, since at this point it could be anyone.

"Is he, um, single?" I asked, since the guy _kissed_ me!  
"Yes," Zimmy said. "He's not a cheater. I don't think he's ever been with anyone before, either."

Okay, that took out some people. But again, could be any guy I know.

"What's Splendor doing in the backyard?" Zimmy asked, and I looked out the window.

Splendor climbed over the fence and into my backyard. He was in a really, _really_ bad shape, with his clothing ripped and his face all bloody and his eyes black and red, and a giant frown on his face.

"_Where's Crystal?_" he called in a really demonic voice. "_Come out, come out, wherever you are…_"

"Okay, Crystal, stay silent!" Zimmy whispered so quietly that I could barely hear him.

We then ran down into the basement to hide, and I started freaking out.

"OMG, OMG, OMG!" I started to quietly panic. "What do we do?"

"I don't know…" Zimmy said, and turned into 'Ricky' so he can hug me for comfort. "This is the only thing I can think of right now!"

"Should I call the cops?" I whispered to him.

"No, that's the worst thing you can do," he said.

We then heard heavy footsteps on the floor above us, and I heard another voice along with Splendor's.

"Find that girl," the voice said. "We need to get rid of her!"

"C'mon, Crystal!" Zimmy called, and we went out through the escape door of the basement.

We ran as fast as we can into the woods, and I could feel us being chased. I began to throw fireballs behind me to block everything, but I knew it was no use.

"SLENDY!" Zimmy and I called together. "SLENDY, WHERE ARE YOU?"

We eventually found him, and we quickly told him we were being followed by what we think is murderers.

"Come with me, quick!" he said, and let us into the deeper part of the forest and to an abandoned house.

"Gemm?" I shouted, seeing what looked like Jeff dragging Gemm into the house as well.

"Get inside!" Slendy called after us as we all ran in.

"There's somebody following us!" Gemm said as soon as we got inside.

"We were followed by Splendor and someone else," I said, losing my breath as I spoke. "So, Slendy, this your house or something?"

"Yah," he said. "Kind of spooky, but it does the job."

"Nice place," Gemm said.

We started to explore the house, with Jeff being like our "tour guide".

"Oh, don't go in here," he told us. "There's a whole bunch of old game in there…"

"Like deer?" Gemm asked.

"N-no," Jeff said, then whispered to us, "Human game…"

"Ew," I said, staring at the door. "And let me guess, it's a year old, isn't it?"

"Yah," Jeff said. "We're cleaning it out this week, so no need to worry."

I almost felt like I was going to gag, but I didn't. We then headed to each room, and then came my favorite part.

"Is that…" I asked, looking at the black figure in the other room.

"Yep," Jeff said. "That's the piano. Still in good shape."

Both 'Ricky' and I headed over to the piano, and Jeff and Gemm continued through the house.

"So, I guess this is barely used anymore, huh?" I asked.

"I use it once in a while," 'Ricky' said.

I then started to play some notes, and Slendy came around the corner.

"You found the piano, I see," he said, then sat down right next to me.

"I've heard you taught Zimmy," I said.

"Yep," he said back. "I also played for fun. I haven't done this in a while."

He then began to play a few keys, and I played along as well, and we started to make a little tune, then became some other tunes, and then became the tune to the music box. We played it so fast; I was surprised that I knew the tune _that_ well. Zimmy joined in as well, and then Jeff and Gemm came into the room and listened.

"Wow," Gemm said. "How fast can you play that song?"

"Faster than you think," I said, and we kicked it up a notch.

We played it so fast that Gemm recorded the sound on a recorded (no, not videotaping us) and we played faster and faster until it was so fast that Zimmy dropped out. When we stopped, it was almost unbelievable that we played such music like that.

"You guys got a sweet tooth for music," Jeff said, as they awed at the sound coming from the recorder.

We then hung out for a while, until I did the stupidest thing and looked out the window, only to find Splendor's face right ageist it. Of course I screamed, which caused a commotion as usual. We then boarded up the windows and locked every outside door.

"OMG," I said.

"Calm down, gal!" Jeff said. "They can't break through that."

"Why are they after us?" I asked, scared to death.

"Okay, maybe Splendor _has_ gone insane!" Slendy said, boarding up the doors now. "He's _never_ like this!"

"Uh, guys…" Gemm said. "I think someone's upstairs!"

That's when I heard the loud footsteps, and I stepped back from the staircase.

"_Now, brother, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way,_" I heard Splendor's demonic voice say. "_Give me the girl!_"

"What'd you want with me?" I called out.

"_The evil one has spoken!_" He shouted at us, and his tentacles started to come down, now with the poka dots a bloody red and the bells replaced for knife blades. "_Fine then, I guess I'll get her MYSELF!_"

"I'm not evil," I called out. "I'm NOT EVIL!"

I threw some more fireballs at his already-burnt face from the ones before. When those didn't stop him, I tried freezing him, but that was impossible. It then seemed like he had a glitch or something, because he jolted to the side, seeming like he was trying to fight something down. His eyes also changed every time this happened, from the black eyes he usually had to the bloody, demonic eyes.

I then heard him whisper, "Help me…" and then everything evil came out of him.

"Brother?" I heard Slendy say.

He must have heard the plea, and I then realized what was going on.

"He's being controlled!" I shouted. "Someone's controlling him!"

We all gasped as the glitch kept happening, and he kept saying "I'm sorry…" and a whole bunch of stuff like that.

We then kept running to the back of the house, and I turned invisible so he couldn't see me, and Slendy did the same. Jeff, Gemm and 'Ricky' ran back to the cave hideout, and Splendor kept looking for me.

"What do you suppose we do?" I asked Slendy. "We can't scare the guy, can we?"

"No," he said. "But we can scare whoever's controlling him."

We watch a Splendor crawled up the side of the house and onto the ceiling, like a big, black and red spider. He then began to scout for us, and then shouted something over and over again, but I couldn't hear him.

"We should probably go before he finds us," Slendy said.

"Should I try to scare him?" I asked. "At least to let him think I'm still in the house?"

"It's no use," Slendy said. "It'll only make him tear the whole house down…"

I shivered at the thought, and then we left. I only appeared once, in the trees, to tell Jeff and Gemm to run. Thank goodness they did so, because if they didn't, they'd be like flies in a spider's web.

"So, where are we going to find the controller?" I asked.

"Beats me," he said, and then we both thought long and hard.

"Wouldn't he be by Splendor?" I asked.

"I guess, unless he's very powerful and smart, then he would be a great distance from Splendor…" he said, and then we stopped and rested a bit in the tree to think.

"What if we split up?" I asked.

"No," he said. "You or I are going to get hurt. I can't let that happen."

"Then what should we do? Get Zimmy to scout the scene?"

"He'll be killed… unless… we disguised him as something less threatening…" Slendy said, and we thought long and hard about what to do.

So, here was our little plan. We would get Zimmy to disguise himself as a deer, and then try to find anyone around Splendor. If there were someone, we would go and attack them while we were invisible. If not, we'd go search for anyone, with the help of L.J., Ben, Jeff and the rest of my group, of course.

"So, that's our plan, Zimmy," I told the cat after we found him and I told him the plan.

"So, you want me to turn into a deer so I can be pray to any evil thing?" Zimmy asked, and I realized his point. "What about a bear? Nobody want's to mess with a bear!"

"But you'll scare the evil one away," I said. "But how about a porcupine! Not as threatening, no, but at least you won't be eaten and have protection."

So, Zimmy turned into a cute, little porcupine that had a wide grin.

"Maybe a hedgehog would be better, so, you know, you can hide better," Slendy said, and Zimmy did just that.

"I'm like a tiny porcupine!" he said. "Okay, I'll go search…"

The little hedgehog ran out to the house, with Splendor still on the rooftop.

"Wow, that guy can be scary, huh," I asked Slendy, but he just kept on lookout.

I then heard a yelp, and saw the hedgehog Zimmy come back, burning in flames.

"It's Rocky!" Zimmy said after the fire was out and he was a cat again.

"I knew it…" Slendy said. "That no good son of a-"

"Now, c'mon, let's go kick some fox butt!" I said before he could burst out anything more.

We turned invisible again and got really, really close. I then saw 'Kyan', shouting things at Splendor like "Find that girl" and "Go find her and **kill** her".

"Okay," Slendy said. "You ready?"

"Do you think it'll hurt him if I put fire on his back?" I asked.

"Ask me if I care," he said.

"Do you care?" I said.

"HECK NO!" he said, and I did so, making the boy's back on fire and watching him do a lame stop, drop and roll method.

"Epic fail," I whispered to Slendy.

"Big time," he whispered back.

I then slung ice at 'Kyan', making him jump and shout. It was enough to get Splendor out of that trance and turn against his controller. He then took one of his tentacles, now back to normal, and strangled him.

"This is the **last** time you mess with me and my brother," he said, and strangled him so hard that his face was a deep blue.

"Let's get out of here," Slendy said. "He can take care of the rest. He only acts like this when he's angry, and he's **super pissed**!"

I knew Slendy was right, and I ran off with him, leaving the bleak house behind. We found Jeff and Gemm in the bus hideout, chilling on the couch.

"So, how'd you guys do?" Gemm asked.

"Well, we got Splendor unconscious, and now he's strangling 'Kyan'." I said.

"Wow," Jeff said. "The guy must be angry."

"Yep," both Slendy and I said at the same time.

"So, wanna do something fun?" Gemm asked. "You know, like prank people or something?"

"I can make it snow in the neighborhood," I said. "Since the snow season is long gone."

"That sound fun," Jeff said, and we headed out.

We went from house to house, having me blow snow on each lawn. We then came to the last house on the block, which still had their Christmas decorations up.  
"Well, looks like someone's been on vacation," Jeff said, and we began to walk on the lawn.

Okay, maybe what we did next was just wrong, but it was hilarious. We then realized that the house had those light-up deer in the lawn. They had two sets of these, so there were six deer total. I then watched as Jeff went to sit on one. Yah, you heard me, **sit** on one.

"Look, Gemm, I'm ridding it!" he said, rocking back and forth on it, and she giggled.

"Wait, Crystal, you can lift stuff, right?" Gemm asked.

"Yah," I said.

"Then let's hop on these deer and fly!" she called, and got on another.

I then laughed as I got on one too, and Slendy went on one, which was the funniest thing I had _ever_ seen.

"Up, up and away!" We all said as I made them rise, and we then just flew around the place.

"Oh, c'mon, Crystal, you can do better than **that**!" Slendy called behind me.

"Okay, okay!" I said, and I raised us extremely high.

"Now, this is awesome!" Gemm said as we soar across the town.

"Woooo, hoooooo!" I heard Gemm say as we flew around.

Okay, I admit, I was screaming like I was on a rollercoaster. I was having so much fun watching people almost faint as they caught a glimpse of us. It was like going on a flying merry-go-round. I was laughing to the point that I was crying. Once we landed, I saw that the rest were in tears, too, from laughing so hard.

"Okay, okay…" Jeff said. "That was like… the _**BEST**_ thing we ever did together!"

We all agreed, and then we started to walk off when I noticed something.

"Um, is it just me, or is there a bear's trap in the yard?" I said, and pointed out the black figure on the ground.

The whole place was covered in these traps, and the fun suddenly turned into an "oh-my-gosh-I-did-not-see-these" moment.

"Okay, NOBODY MOVE!" Slendy said, and we all stayed still.

"Hold on," I said. "Let me move these…"

I then picked up each one with my powers, making them float in midair. I then put each one in the trashcan, making them snap as they landed.

"Check for more," Gemm said, and I gave the signal that the coast was clear.

We then continued, when a net from under us swept out from under us and caught us all in a trap.

"Great…" Jeff said. "Just great…"

"What now?" Gemm asked.

"Let's see if I can do something," I said, and tried to burn the rope, but appeared flameproof and unmovable.

"Well," I said. "I'm out of ideas."

"Hold on a sec…" Slendy said, and then changed into a little cat.

"You shape-shift?" I asked. "I know you can turn tiny, but I didn't know you can change, too."

"Yep," the cat said.

The cat was white except for some parts of his body that were black, making him look like he was in a suit.

"Let me see if I can cut the rope this way…" he said, and took out a claw and started cutting.

"I think someone's coming…" Jeff said. "HURRY!"

The cat did so, and then finally cut a string loose, making the whole net fall apart.

"YOU KIDS!" a voice shouted from around the corner.

"Run!" I said, and we escaped just in time.

When we finally got to my house, Slendy changed back.

"So," he said. "That was-"

"SO MUCH FUN!" Gemm said, cutting him off.

"I know, right!" Jeff said, and then hugged Gemm.

"Okay, awkward…." I whispered to Slendy.

"Uh, yah…" he whispered back.

"So, do you wanna just chill at my place?" I asked the whole group. "I mean, my mom's not going to be home for a while and I have nothing else better to do…"

"Yea, sure…" Jeff said. "Since me and Slendy can shrink down, so it won't be too weird."

"Wait," Gemm said. "You **both** can shrink?"

"Yah," Slendy said. "I mean, every Creepy pasta does. It's for safety measures."

"Huh," both Gemm and I say.

Just then, the two shrunk down into miniature sizes, and I grabbed Slendy while Gemm grabbed Jeff.

"Okay, Jeff, you look **so cute** when you're tiny!" Gemm said.

"Well, I'm not going to do this all the time…" he said in a little bit of a higher pitch than Slendy's.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Slendy said, squeakier than ever. "LET'S PARTY!"

We then got L.J. and Ben to join the party, both of them shrunk down, and the miniature party started.

"Whoa," Ben squeaked. "You have a DSI? That's awesome!"

Little Ben then started to play a game with L.J., moving the pen along the screen and making pictures. Jeff and Gemm were just goofing off with the Barbie dolls, and I was with Slendy messing around on the keyboard. We were just writing music together, and it came out pretty good.

"Crystal…" Gemm said. "Jeff's stuck in the dollhouse shower again…"

"That's my cue," I told Slendy, and helped Jeff somehow get out from the locking shower.

I then came back over and noticed that L.J. and Ben put a new game on my DSI.

"Is that free?" I asked them.

"Yah, totally…" Ben said, and I realized they were playing _Animal Farm_.

"You guys just behave, K?" I asked them.

"K, k," L.J. said, and they both went back to the game.

"I'm back," I told Slendy, who was now playing Black Jack on the computer.

"C'mon, c'mon!" he was chanting at the screen. "I need a 5!"

The computer then showed a digitalized card showing the 5 of hearts, and he cheered.

"YES! I rock at this game!" he said.

"Okay, now my turn…" I said, and started to play against him.

"Aw, c'mon! 10 over!" I shouted at the screen, and then heard a bang from downstairs.

"What was that?" Gemm asked.

"I don't know…" I said, and then heard an unusual voice from downstairs. "Okay, everyone in my walk-in closet!"

We all rushed in, and had enough room for everyone to change back to their normal selves.

"This closet is huge," Jeff said.

"SHHHHH!" I told him.  
"Sorry," he whispered, and then we listened.

"C'mon, where's Crystal?" the voice said. "We need to find her and get her out of here!"

"That's not Rocky, if you ask me…" L.J. said, and I started to freak out.

"Okay, everyone, calm down…" Jeff said. "We just need to get out of here."

"Uh, YEAH!" I whispered to him, still scared as heck.

"Okay, you go look in the room, and make sure that cat's not there…" the voice said, making me feel nervous.

"Alright, and if I find him?" another voice asked, which I started calling voice 2.

"Then you bag him!" voice 1 said.

I then heard footsteps coming up the staircase and into my bedroom.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are…" voice 2 said in a creepy way. "If you're really the blue Proxy, then you would freeze me to death or put me on fire, huh?"

"What do we do?" I whispered very softly to Slendy.

"Beats me," he said. "But is there any way out of here?"

"Not unless we can turn everyone invisible, or just wait," I said. "Unless we can get to those potions, if we want to kill them…"

"No," Jeff whispered into the conversation. "We have no idea who they are…"

"Don't panic, Crystal," Gemm whispered in. "We'll find a way out, one way or another."

"Do I hear you, Proxy?" The voice said, leaning towards the door.

We all then went dead silent. I didn't want to be caught, nor did I want to be killed or anything like that. I just wanted them out of the house and for it to be all over. I then heard the doorknob jiggle a bit, and we all gasped.

"Ah! It's locked!" The voice said. "I guess I'll just have to break the door down!"

I tried looking through the keyhole, and I saw the man and someone else in the background tied up.

"He has a girl with him, but she's tied up…" I said.

"Let me take a look," Jeff said, and then he stared back at us in horror. "Um, Slendy, better take a look at this…"

As he did so, he just gasped.

"No, they couldn't have captured her…" he whispered. "She **never** get's caught!"

"Who?" I said.

"It's Jess!" Jeff said.

**Chapter Fifteen**

_Another Proxy?_

"Whose Jess?" Gemm asked, and we both were confused.

"She's an old Proxy of Slendy's," L.J. said. "We thought she was the blue Proxy at first, but we realized the name's suppose to be Crystal."

"She looks just like you," Gemm said to me, and I looked again through the hole.

Gemm was right. Jess looked like my twin sister. The only thing different was that her eyes were a more turquoise blue than a light blue, like mine.

"So, what's she doing tied up?" I wondered out loud.

"I don't know," Ben said. "But we all need to get out of here before we get caught!"

"I guess you guys should shrink down or something and hide," I said. "I'll just turn invisible and Gemm can just hide in the clothes."

"We can't," Jeff said. "They'll rip the whole place apart to find you."

"Then let's fight them!" Gemm said.

"Um, we better do something, and _quick_!" I told them, and the door was just about to open.

"Uh," they all said, and they tried to hide.

The door then slammed open before either Gemm or I could hide.

"Well, well, well…" the man said. "So, I'm guessing she's the one?"

He pointed at me, and Jess nodded.

"Okay, what do you want?" Gemm said, us both taking a step back towards the closet.

"Let me introduce myself," The man said. "The name's Gus, and my partner is Bruce. We are Proxy hunters, and we collect all Proxies to find out about their master…"

"A master?" I asked, clearly confused because Slendy is totally **not** my master.

"Mph, Humph!" Jess struggled to say, but a scarf covered her mouth.

"QUIET!" Gus snapped at her, and she looked like she was about to cry. "Anyway, I heard the blue Proxy lived here, and we need to bring her back to us for just a few questions. Then, well, depending on how useful she is, we might have a little 'fun' with her…"

"Um, I'm sorry, she's not available." I tried to say, but stumbled a bit.

"Not available?" Gus laughed. "You look available to me. I can clearly see your marking!"

I tried to hide the Proxy mark, but my sleeves were too short. I then tried to throw some fire and snow at him, but it was no use.

"Oh, now why struggle?" he said. "It'll only make it worse…"

I motioned Gemm to get in the closet, and as she did, I tried to punch the man to get away, but he dodged it. I tried everything I could, and I ran over to the potions to poison him.

"Oh, look at that," he said. "You're trying to kill me, aren't you? Well, we'll see about that after _I_ kill **you**!"

I then screamed for my life, trying to break away. I then shut my eyes and threw the potions at the man, but again, he dodged them.

"Okay, Gus, just why do you want me?" I said, trying hard not to freak out.

"First off, who are you working for?" he said, and I just gave him a confused look. "Oh, let me rephrase that. Who's Proxy are you?"

"I won't tell," I said.

"Tell me now, or your going to be sorry!" Gus said, and I saw Bruce come through the door. "Oh, Bruce, help me with this little monster…"

"Sure thing, Gus," Bruce said, then tried to grab for me, but I got out of the way and headed into the closet.

"Oh, don't run away," Gus said. "I only want to know who you're that Proxy of!"

I then saw that Slendy had turned invisible, as the outline of him was standing in the middle of the closet.

"What do I do?" I whispered to him.  
All he did was shrug so that he wouldn't be discovered. I then shook with fear as the men drew closer. I wanted to disappear, but I didn't want my friends to be discovered.

"Okay, if I tell you who he is, will you leave me alone?" I said, and the men both nodded.

"Well, then I guess you should know that if I tell you, you're going to die," I said, trying to scare them. "Because he doesn't like it when I tell people about him, and I don't think you want to end your life soon, huh?"

"Just tell us, since we're the strongest men around!" Gus said, as he and Bruce flexed their muscles at me, which were so disgusting.

"Okay, but you're gonna be sorry…" I said, then turned invisible and told Slendy what to do.

Once he got the point, I appeared back and said, "Now, I have him in this room, and I can show you him and **all** my unusual friends, but you're not going to like it."

"Show us," Bruce said, and Jess was trying to cut herself free.

"Alright, I command my friends to come out!" I shouted, and then I banged the two men against the wall with my powers.

Then, all at once, L.J., Ben, Jeff and Gemm came out from the closet.

"Here are my friends," I said as they tried to act creepy and insane. "And here's who made me his Proxy…"

Then, Slendy appeared out of nowhere and made static fly around the men's heads. I laughed crazily as this happened, and I helped Jess get free. The two men then tried to fight Slendy, but he hold them back with his tentacles and kept scaring the crap out of them. I then got Jess out of the room, and Gus and Bruce then fainted at the same time, falling to the ground.

"Nice work," I told Slendy.

"Ah, it's nothing," he said. "I used to do this all the time."

We then dragged the two outside the house just as my mother came home.

"Better hide," I told them, and everyone scattered except Gemm and me.

"Oh, honey!" Mom said after seeing the men. "What happened?"

After I told her everything that happened, she just sighed and called the police. Once they came and took the men away, Gemm went home and my mother took me inside.

"You know," she said. "Those two came after your father as well, and I thought they were going to kill him. I was so afraid that they were coming after you, too, but I knew you had the others to help you."

I smiled as I went into my room with Zimmy, who wasn't looking pleased at all.

"What's the matter, Zimmy?" I asked.

"Just, that Jess girl is really bugging me," he said. "She keeps coming after me and want's me to date her and stuff like that. The girl's insane when she's around me!"

"Oh, she _likes_ you!" I asked Zimmy.

"Yah," he sighed. "It's been this way since I found her, and ever since she saw me as a human, she couldn't keep hugging me!"

I chuckled a little, but it only got the cat annoyed.

"It's not funny!" he said. "When she's a Persian, she is really crazy and it's madness!"

"Aw, poor Zimmy!" I said. "Maybe you ought to give her a try!"

"Ah, heck no!" he said. "She's also not going to like you. You're the one I found that stopped her from being the blue Proxy, let alone a regular Proxy! She was so pissed that she literally told me she was going to _kill_ you!"

"Uh, not another one!" I said. "What is it with everyone wanting to kill me?"  
"As long as you have your powers, you should be fine," the little cat said, then hopped on my lap. "And besides, Slendy's not going to let that happened to you. If you really are good, which we assume you are, then you're the only thing that's good for Creepy pastas."

"Huh," I said. "I never really thought of that before. But what was with Jeff trying to kill me?"

"Oh," Zimmy said. "He thought you were bad, and he thought you were going to kill him."

"Weird," I said.

I then got ready for bed until I heard a scratching at the window. Here, a lovely white Persian climbed the tree, and I assumed it was Jess.

"Oh, Zimmy! It's me, 'Dally'!" the cat said.

"'Dally' is her cat name." Zimmy said, then got up and walked to the window. "Yes, 'Dally', what do you want?"

"I want you to open this window and let me in!" she said, and I opened the window for the feline.

"So, you're Crystal," the cat said to me. "Well, you ought to be sorry for stealing my chance to be a Proxy!"  
"I had no idea," I said. "If I did I would've felt bad. I also thought you should thank me for saving you, but I guess that's not going to happened."

"Oh, I'm happy that I'm free," 'Dally' said. "But I want to be the blue Proxy! You didn't even know how to defend yourself against those two men!"

"Neither did you," I said to the cat, which then looked angered.

"Well, I didn't have powers," the cat said, then went over to Zimmy.

"Okay, look," Zimmy tried to say. "It's not Crystal's fault, 'Dally', and you're just going to have to accept that, okay?"

"NO!" the cat said, and took Zimmy by his paw. "C'mon, my prince, for we're going!"

"But-" Zimmy said, but then was stopped by the Persian as the leapt out the window.

I just shook my head, and then sighed. I jumped into the bed, and then went to sleep. I then had that same dream about Nathan and me at the prom, but this time I remembered a little bit of what he changed into.

_Okay,_ I told myself when I got up. _So he got a lot taller, and slimmer, too. Those are some good clues._

"Crystal!" my mother called from downstairs. "Ready for your driver's test today?"

"Oh, yah," I called down sleepily. "Let me get ready…"  
After I was in a graphic tee and jeans with some cute boots, I headed out to the car to go take my driver's test. It was suppose to be a surprise to my friends once I do get my license, but who knows how long that's going to take. I then went to the place to take my test, which took an hour to get done. The teacher was nice, but she was also stubborn and strict. Once I was done, my mother went to see if I got my license.

"Well," I said once she got out.

"You got it!" she said, and I smiled with glee.

"OMG!" I said, so happy that I can drive my own car now.

"But, promise me this," my mother said. "You're going to get a job this summer?"

"Yah," I said. "I'm going to work at the doughnut shop for some free doughnuts!"  
"Nice," she said. "Okay, let's go get that license!"

It took a while for me to get it, but I was so happy to get it.

"Now, be careful when you go to drive-" my mom started to say.

"I know!" I told her. "You told me this a million times!"

"Okay," she said. "But be safe!"

I was so happy that I just wanted to get the car right away! My mother promised me that I could have Dad's old truck, which could seat about 1-4 people in the car. It did needed to be checked and re-painted, but at least it was a nice car! I then told the rest once I got the chance.

"OMG!" Gemm said. "That's awesome!"

"Yeah!" Zack said. "You can finally go where **you** want to go!"

"Congrats," Slendy said. "This is awesome! We're gonna cruise around town!"

I just laughed a bit at his comment, and then got to hear all the nice compliments from my friends.

"So," Jeff said. "Should we take a look at the truck?"

"Yah," I said. "Now that it's all fixed and painted."

I then drove the truck around to the front of the forest, and my friends just stood there, amazed. I had re-pained the truck a light blue, and gave it some awesome new décor on the inside.

"This is such a nice truck!" Matt said, feeling the side of it. "It's really cool!"

"Let's go for a spin!" Jeff said, as he and Gemm hopped in the back seat.

"Okay, I'll be co-pilot!" Slendy said as he turned invisible and got in the seat next to the driver's side.

"Let's go have fun!" I said, and then strapped myself in.

We just rode around the parking lot, but extremely fast. We were aloud to anyway, since some racecars practice here. We were all dying of laughter and screaming our heads off until we stopped.

"That was AWESOME!" Jeff said, a little dizzy as he walked. "Let's do it again!"

"NO!" Slendy, Gemm and me both said, all of us sick to our stomachs.

"Fine," Jeff said, then I took the car back and we headed in to the hideout.

I then saw 'Ricky' and Jess hanging out together under a tree nearby. I was almost going to say something, until I saw that 'Ricky' was getting away and Jess trying to hug him again. I just sighed and chuckled, and eventually I pointed them out.

"Well then," Gemm said. "Looks like 'Ricky' finally has someone in his life!"

We all laughed, then headed back to our usual routine of just hanging out and goofing around. When it was finally nighttime, I suggested something totally fun.

"So, do you wanna go to the food store and cart race?" I asked.

"OMG YES!" Jack said, smiling.

"Cart racing?" Jeff asked.

"Oh, you'll love it!" Gemm said. "The food store leaves shopping carts out and there's a hill right in front of the store. When the store closes, we set the carts up on the hill with a person inside and push them down the hill. Then we take the carts once they're downhill and have someone push them to the other end of the parking lot. First person to the other side wins, or until we get caught!"

"Sounds like fun," Slendy said. "But can we stick two people in one cart?"

"I don't think so," I said. "It'd be crowded."

"What are we waiting for?" Zack said. "LET'S GO!"

We headed down to the food store and saw enough carts for everyone. I hopped in one and waited for Slendy to push me down the hill.

"Are ya ready?" he asked, and I nodded. "I hope so, cuz this hill's steep."

"Three…" Zack started, and I saw Gemm in the cart next to me with Jeff pushing her. "Two… one… RACE!"

I felt the rush of air as I raced down the hill.

"WOOOOOOO!" I shouted, and then Slendy kept pushing me. "This is awesome!"

"Ha-ha, yeah it is!" Gemm called.

"Hey Slendy," Jeff called.

"What?" Slendy asked.

"THIS!" Jeff said as he rammed his cart into ours.

"Dude!" I said. "Hey, you're messing with the wrong people!"

We then slammed our cart into his and raced ahead.

"Are we in first?" I asked.

"YEAH WE ARE!" Slendy said, as we both screamed in excitement.

We then got to the end first, with Gemm and Jeff close behind.

"Good game," I said to them, and the whole group nodded.

"That was fun!" Sarah said. "Can we do it again?"

And that's exactly what we did all night: race down the hill in shopping carts until about 9:00 at night. I then went home and met Zimmy in my bedroom, curled up on the bed.

"I saw what you were doing," he said. "Did you have fun?"

"Yah!" I said. "And how was Jess?"

"You saw!" he surprisingly said. "I thought you didn't see?"

"So, I guess you two made out?" I said.

"Kind of," Zimmy said. "She's nice, but sometimes I wonder what's really going through her head when she hugs me."

I just patted the cat on the head and went to bed, smiling from the new license and the cart race.

The next day was a school day, which was just 'fantastic'. First off, all the teachers gave us a project assignment due by next week. I'm sure they didn't know that anyone else was doing so, and that they had bad planning with this. I just wanted to scream after getting about 20 pages of homework in each class due tomorrow, and the day was just horrible. The next few days weren't so bad. But then came the horrible Friday. Friday was usually my happy day, but it all changed when this girl named Cathy wanted to join our group.

"Are you sure you want to?" I asked. "I mean, there are some weird people in our group, and there's already a lot of us."

"But you say this to me all the time," Cathy said. "I want to join so bad."

"I'm sorry," Gemm said. "But we can't have about 20 people in our hideouts. We don't just accept anyone into our group, either. These people are _extremely_ good friends, and I don't know if you want to get involved."

"Why," Cathy said. "Because I'm no good to you? You're going to be sorry!"

"No, we don't mean-" I started to say but she stormed off before I could spit out another word.

"Don't worry, Crystal," Gemm said. "She's always been stubborn and not understanding. She always want's her way, and don't be surprised if she asks again."

"But it hurts to say no to her," I said. "Maybe we should-"

"No," Gemm said. "She was a **bully** before and still is."

"Well," I started to say, and then I got the courage to say so. "So was Jeff…"

"True," Gemm said. "And Slendy, too, but they're not anymore. She still is and always will be."

I then realized that Cathy just heard everything we just said, and then stormed off. I tried to apologize, but it was too late. I then couldn't help but feel guilty, but it wasn't that bad. She knew who she was and that was final. I then started to walk home until I saw Cathy.

"I know you don't want to except me," she said. "So I guess I won't accept you, either. My father wanted me to join your group, anyway, and he just went to jail a while back…"

"Is your father named Gus or Bruce?' I said.

"His name's Bruce, and he's a Proxy hunter," Cathy said. "I know you're a 'Proxy', which I believe they don't exist, but you still hurt me."

"I'm sorry," I said, but it didn't help for the fact that there was a whole bunch of people behind Cathy. I realized they were Proxy hunters, too, and they were holding bags.

"Get her!" Cathy yelled at them, and they started hitting me with rocks.

They weren't tiny rocks, either. They were huge! I was running for dear life, trying hard not to fall or trip. I then realize they were not Proxy hunters, but random people from my school. They were bullying me, and I just tried to run. I didn't want to use my powers so I wouldn't get caught, so I tried to go somewhere so I could disappear and hide. I ran and ran until I tripped into a small stream. I picked myself up, though being pounded with rocks, and ran until I found myself at the hill that I lost myself last Halloween. I screamed in terror, and I then tried to climb the tree, but failed to. I was stuck, and I was sure I was going to get hurt badly, until I saw something very light and shadowy before me. I tried to climb the tree again, failing as I do so, until the shadow became lighter and lighter. I then realized it was Slendy, invisible and hidden well. I tried to hide behind the tree, but it was no use. I wanted to scream out to him, but I couldn't under the pain of the rocks beating against me, making me bleed and get sore.

"Help…" I managed to say. "Stop…"

I then tried to disappear, but I couldn't. I felt like crying, but I didn't want to be weak. I then stood up, and ran _towards_ the people, showing that I was brave. It hurt so much, and I was screaming as I ran and I tried to grab the rocks out of their hands.

"Crystal," Cathy said. "Who's the man behind you?"

I then looked around to see Slendy there, but it was too dark to see his 'face'.

"Slendy!" I cried to him and ran toward him, hugging him hard.

"Okay, Crystal, let's get these guys out of here," he said, and I finally had the strength to use my magic.

I then made fire appear in front of them, and then threw it at them, making them run away.

"You okay, Crystal?" he asked.

"Yeah," I weakly said, feeling like I was going to pass out.

"Um, I don't think so…" he said, and he touched the side of my face, which was bleeding badly.

"Crystal!" I heard a voice say, and Gemm came running up the hill. "Oh jeesh, look at your face! And your side…"

I tried to look down, and I saw the bleeding at the side of my hip.

"Take her back," Slendy said, and Gemm took me into her hands. "I'll catch up later."

"Okay," Gemm said, and ran me back to the hideout.

"Am…" I tried to speak, but was too weak to.

"You're going to be fine," Gemm said, and we met Jeff back there.

"What happened?" he asked, looking at my wounds.

"Help me get her back!" Gemm said, and Jeff grabbed the other side of me. "Don't worry, Crystal. Just hang in there!"

I tried hard to, but I eventually closed my eyes and said "Nap…"

"Okay, but just stay calm!" Gemm said, and I fell asleep.

The next thing I knew, I was back in the hideout with the feeling of pain running through my head.

"Dang," Jeff said. "You passed out, and we're glad you did. There-"

"Jeff!" Gemm said. "Not now. She doesn't need visions while she's like this!"

"Where's Slendy?" I tried to say.

"I don't know," Gemm said. "But he was here earlier. He wishes you to get well."

"Course he does," I said, stumbling. "Why wouldn't he?"

"You're mom's coming to get you home," Jeff said. "She'll be here quick, I hope."

I just smiled, for my voice was too weak to speak.

"So, how do you feel?" Gemm tried to ask.

"My head hurts, but that's all," I said, and tried to move my hip, but the pain was horrible.

"Don't try to move," Gemm said. "It'll only hurt worse."

I just moaned and laid back. It didn't take long for my mother to get there and take me home. When I felt better, I told her everything that happened.

"Jeesh," she said. "Looks like you got bullied hard. Try to take it easy, okay?"

"Okay," I said, then went to sleep on the couch.

When I finally felt better, I went out and chatted with the gang.

"Well," Slendy said. "Look's who's here!"

"Hey," I said. "I'm a lot better now."

"Thank goodness," Gemm said. "I thought you were gonna be extremely hurt or something like that."

"I'm fine," I said. "Just how did Cathy round up all those people just to pelt rocks at me?"

"She's a bully," Sunni said. "But I didn't expect her to go that far on you!"

"Her dad was one of the Proxy hunters," I said. "And though she doesn't believe in Proxies, she did this because her dad said to."  
"This is messed up," Slendy said. "I thought this all would've stopped once they were in jail."

"That's what I thought," I said, and everyone else nodded along.

"So what," Jeff said. "Are we just going to let her bully you?"

"No," I said. "If she want's to be a member, she'll get what she want's!"

I told them my plan, and we all agreed to scare the heck out of her. I let her in the group, and then brought her into the bus hideout.

"Now, Cathy, you know that man that was with me?" I told her.

"Yeah," she said. "The creepy one. The one who was tall and slender?"

"Yep," I said. "I have lots of friends like that. They'll be here soon…"

"Wait," she said. "You mean-"

"That's right," I said. "There's more that one. Ah, here they are now!"

I saw all my Creepy pasta friends come up to the bus. I greeted them and let them in.

"Uh, Crystal?" Cathy asked.

"What?" I said. "Do you want something?"

"Why does the one guy have a knife and is bloody?" she asked, pointing at Jeff.

"Oh, that's Jeff," I said. "He must've went out hunting today,"

"Hunting for what?" she asked, and I just smiled.

"Humans," I said. "In fact, all of them were."

She just shuttered, and I left the bus.

"You guys be good, k?" I told them.

"Yeah, sure," Ben said, and I left them all in the bus with Cathy.

It didn't take long to get Cathy to scream like a little girl and run out of the bus. The guys and I just laughed, watching her flee.

"So, what now?" I asked.

"Beats me," L.J. said.

I then watched the trees, and I saw 'Kyan' move through the trees.

"Oh, crap, it's 'Kyan'," I said.

"Great," Jeff exclaimed. "I guess we're going back to the hideout, huh?"

"Um, I think 'Kyan' has someone with him," I said.

"Who?" Slendy said.

"I think it's…" I tried to make out, then gasped. "Oh, no! It's Gemm!"

**Chapter Sixteen**

_The Prom_

"Gemm!" I exclaimed, and ran over to get her.

"Here we go again!" Jeff said, and they all ran behind me.

After a nice, long battle with Rocky, we got Gemm back safe.

"I hate it when you spoil my plans!" the fox said.

"And I hate it when you mess with us," I told the fox.

"You guys are just a pain in the neck," Rocky said, and then mumbled.

"You know what I'm thinking?" I told the group.

"What?" Slendy asked.

I then took out my phone and turned up some music, which then blared out "WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?"

"Oh, crap," Rocky said. "Not this song again!"

We then sang along to it until Rocky was extremely pissed.

"Ha-ha!" I laughed. "You can never escape this!"

"STOP IT!" the fox called.

We didn't listen to the little creature as we kept blaring the music at the fox. I was laughing to hard that I could barely sing anymore. Finally, Jeff called Smile to fight Rocky, and the showdown began.

"Get your mutt off me!" Rocky said, biting Smile.

"Nope," Jeff said. "Unless you promise to leave us alone."

"NEVER!" the fox said. "After all this, why would I leave you alone?"

"Uh," Gemm said. "Maybe so that we don't annoy you?"

"No," the fox said. "It's all your fault!"

He than tried to come up and bite me, but thankfully I had the powers to blow him back. Literally.

"Dang, this fox hates you," Ben said to me.

"Yeah," I said. "But I don't care…"

"Uh, shouldn't you?" L.J. asked.

"Why would I?" I said. "I can hold him off."

"True, true…" the two both said.

"C'mon, Crystal," Slendy said. "I think we should just leave Smile up to it. They can't die, so we don't need to watch."

"Good point," I said, and we all just left.

I did see Cathy again, running for her life after she saw us again.

"What are you running from?" I called out. "Don't you wanna join us?"

She never gave an answer, though, as we just walked back, laughing and chatting from all the fun we had.

"Hey, Crystal," Gemm said. "Isn't the prom coming up soon?"

"Oh yeah," I said. "I need to get a dress for that."

"I do too," she said. "Guess we should go out and, ya know, get one?"

"Yeah," I laughed. "Before it's too late."

We left the guys as all the girls in the group and me went to go find dresses.

"So, I wonder what the guys are going to do," I said.

"Probably something stupid," Sarah said, and we laughed.

"Yeah, like cart racing in the day!" Emma said. "With L.J. and Ben, I suppose."

To catch you guys up, Emma has been dating L.J. and Sarah has been dating Ben. Don't ask why, for this just happened the one day that they finally told us. Ben and L.J. also got new disguises. L.J. can turn into 'John' and Ben can turn into 'Luke'. 'Luke' is just like Ben, but wears a grey hoodie and jeans. 'John' is just a normal, black-haired boy with a blue hoodie and jeans. Since Gemm, Sarah, and Emma are dating, the twins, Sunni, Fern and I all just make fun of them, and they're cool with that because they think we're just jealous. When we reached the shop where we got our dresses last year, we rushed over to it and started to search.

"OMG, Crystal, look at this dress!" Gemm said, and I came over to look at it.

"Wow," I said. "It's perfect for you, try it on!"

Gemm found a lovely purple dress that had little flowers on it and a bit of glitter. After she came out from dressing, we were amazed at her.

"That's, like, the perfect dress!" Fern said.

"Now let's find ours," I told the others, and the search began.

The twins both found a nice green dress, but Kat's had a bow on it and Katy's had swirls on it. Sunni found a bright yellow dress, Sarah found a reddish-orange colored one, Emma found a turquoise outfit, and I was still looking. It only took a minute until I found the _perfect_ dress. I pulled it out and tried it on, and when I came out to surprise the girls, they were flattered.

"Crystal," Gemm said. "That's, like, **the** perfect dress for you!"

"You think so?" I asked, and I swirled around in the dress.

The dress was a pretty light blue, just like my eyes. It had a cute bow on the side and had ribbons all over it. It didn't have glitter or and sparkles, but it did look _amazing_ on me when I looked in the mirror.

"I wonder what the guys would think," Gemm said.

"I know one thing," I said. "That at least Slendy would be head over heels for me!"

They just laughed, since they all think the guy liked me, but I disagree. I think he's just a nice guy, that's all, but it's nice to know that they think this way.

"And it's a reasonable price, too!" Fern said, looking at the tag.

"Do you need any help, girls?" a store worker said as she came over. "Wow, miss, you look great in that!"

"Oh, thanks!" I said. "I'm going to get this one, of course."

"Certainly!" the worker said, and she brought me over to the register to pay for it.

Okay, for $50 for a dress that looked fabulous on me wasn't bad at all. I then took it off and put it in a bag, happy to get it.

"I like their dresses there," Gemm said. "Not to mention the one Crystal got…"

"I know!" Fern said. "It's a wonderful match. It brings out your eyes."

We then walked home, and when I finally got to my house, I took the dress out and set it on the desk. The prom was only a week away, and then it would only be a month until school's over for the year, and only a little bit after that would be my 17th birthday! I was excited to go to the dance, but I just hope it didn't turn out like last year.

"Wow, Crystal," Zimmy said as he entered the room. "That's an awesome dress!"

"Thanks," I said. "So, what did the guys do?"

"Besides mess with Rocky again…" the cat said. "They just hung out and I watched Slendy chug milk."

"Really?" I said, not surprised. "Let me guess, it didn't turn out well, right?"

"Nope," Zimmy said, cracking up at the thought. "But if you were there, you would've stopped him before he started."

"Um, yeah!" I said. "Of course! Why on earth would anyone do that?"

"Because he can not think sometimes," Zimmy said. "I mean, he was really strict and stern before, but at some points, it was like he was out of his mind!"

I just shook my head as we both laughed. The rest of the day I went to see Slendy and we hung out.

"So, that prom's coming up, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said. "I just hope it doesn't turn out like last year."

"What happened last year?" Zimmy asked.

I then told the story of Danny and me. I was waiting for Danny to pick me up, but I decided to go by myself and told him I was. When I got to the prom, I saw Danny dancing with someone else. I went over to ask what's up, but I found out he was cheating on me. That's when we broke up, and I was so upset that I cried for the rest of the night and missed school the next day.

"Wow," Zimmy said. "Just, wow."

"So, let me guess," Slendy said. "You never saw him again?"

"Exactly," I said, angry at the past.

"Here, let me give you something," he said.

He reached into a pocket and grabbed out a necklace. It had a pretty blue gem on the end, and it hung off a simple chain. He put it on me, and I looked at the crystal hanging off.

"Now, think of any animal," he said.

I thought of a cat, and suddenly, I began to change. When I opened my eyes, I was a cute little tabby cat.

"Oh, cool!" I said, amazed. "A magic crystal!"

"Yep," he said, and showed me his. "I have one just like it. It helps me change into whatever I want."

He then changed into that cat again, and I just laughed.

"It's amazing," I said. "Thanks!"

"No problem," he said. "Now, let's get back to normal before that fox comes around."

We changed back, and I just hugged him, again. I loved the new magic that I had now, and I began to tinker around with it.

"Now, can I change into…" I started to say.

I soon changed into an icy blue dragon.

"Aw, sweet!" I said, and then flew up in the air.

"I didn't know we could do that," Slendy said.

I landed and changed back, laughing.

"Well," I said. "You learn something new every day!"

The rest of the week was awesome, since I wore the necklace every day. I was changing into a mouse or rat a lot to scare my teachers, and then changed back before they could catch me.

"You're just the little magician, aren't you?" my social studies teacher said.

"Well…" I said. "A magician never reveals her secrets."

We just laughed, and I kept the necklace hidden until lunch.

"Crystal," Gemm said. "Where'd you get the necklace?"

"I got it from Slendy," I said, and the girls just 'oohed' at me. "But look what it can do!"

I changed into a cat, then turned back before anyone realized.

"Whoa!" Gemm said. "I want one!"

"Oh, no, no!" I said. "I think there's only a few, and since I'm the-"

"SHHHHHH!" Gemm said. "We don't want to get caught!"

"Oh," I said. "Right."

"So, who's going out with whom?" Fern asked.

"I'm going out with 'Greg'," Gemm said.

"I'm with 'John'," Emma said.

"I'm with 'Luke'," Sarah said.

"Of course you guys are," I said. "And I'm a loner, again!"

"I'm sure you'll find someone there," Gemm said, patting my back. "Who knows, you might find a loner just for you!"

"You think so?" I asked.

Everyone in the group nodded. I then told them about the dreams I had about the prom, and they all gasped.

"Maybe you will meet Nathan there," Fern said. "Or not, but who knows?"

"I hope to find out who he is," I said.

"I wish I could say, but he'd be real mad at me," Gemm said.

"You know?" Sarah said. "SPILL!"  
"Okay," Gemm said. "We'll be right back Crystal, we're just going to go into the bathrooms."

I watched as they went in, and I heard the girls' scream and one say, "I knew it! I knew it was him!" and things like that. They then came back out, and they were giggling.

"Oh, Crystal!" Kat said. "You're going to be so surprised!"

"It'll all make sense when you know," Gemm said.

"C'mon guys, TELL ME!" I said.

"Nope," Gemm said. "I told Zimmy that I wouldn't tell you. But I can tell the others!"

I was begging them to tell me, but they all shook their heads.

"If your dream comes true, then I'll be pissing myself of laughter," Sarah said, laughing.

"I knew we were right," Katy said. "I just knew it!"

I just sat there, wondering who he is. I was so confused, and I wanted to know so badly.

"Well, prom's tomorrow," Gemm said. "So rest up and get ready!"

That's basically what I did do, and when school was over, I headed home to get changed and went to the hideout to show off. I did put on the crystal, too, since it went so well with the outfit.

"Wow," Jeff said. "That dress is amazing!"

"Yeah," L.J. said. "Brings the color of your eyes out."

I just blushed at the compliments, and I smiled.

"I see Slendy gave you the necklace," Ben said. "Since he's the only one who's got one."

"Really?" I said. "Then how do you guys shape-shift?"

"We can only change into our tiny selves and our disguises." Jeff said. "And if we could, we would change into the other things!"

I laughed a bit, and then it was time to go. The boys shape-shifted into their human forms as we all went out, all dressed up and ready to go. We got there a bit late, but it wasn't too bad. I just hung out by the punch bowl, chatting with the twins, Sunni and Fern.

"Who knew 'John' had some dance moves," I said, staring at him dancing.

"And Ben and Sarah make a good pair!" Fern said, watching the two of them dance.

"Do you see anyone just standing by themselves?" I tried to ask them, but they just said no.

"Great," I said, not happy with the response.

"Ah, don't worry Crystal," Sunni said. "You're bound to find **someone**!"

"You're right," I said. "Maybe I should start to look myself."

I scanned the gym floor, hoping to find at least one lonely boy, but found nobody, and just sighed.

"Aw, sorry Crystal," Sunni said, feeling sorry for me.

I then went to go somewhere else when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I then turned around and I saw Nathan, scanning for either something or someone. I was surprised to see him there, so I went over.

"Oh, hey!" I said, crawling my way through the crowd. "What're you doing here?"

"I was looking for you!" he said. "I came because I had nothing better to do. So, what's happening?"

Nathan was all dressed up in a black suit and a red tie. His voice still sounded familiar, and I smiled when he talked. _Wait, why am I smiling so hard when he talks to me?_ I thought. _I never did this before. It's like I know the guy all too well, but I don't!_

"Hey," he said to me. "Wanna, you know, dance?"

"Uh, sure!" I said, a little nervous.

I saw that the girls were looking at Nathan and me. It felt a little weird, but it wasn't all too bad. We went right besides Gemm and 'Greg', and Gemm smiled as she saw me dancing with Nathan.

"So," she whispered when we got close enough. "I see you found your man…"

"Oh, shut it!" I said.

"C'mon, Crystal!" he called. "What? Not a dancer?"

"Of course I am!" I called to him, and I began to dance with him, doing a whole bunch of different stuff. We finally got to the slow dance, and he had his arms around me. _What if Gemm's right?_ I thought silently. _What if the dream is true? Will I find out who he is?_

"So," he said while we were dancing. "I haven't seen you since the Christmas party, which was awesome, by the way. Maybe I took it too far with-"

"Nah," I said. "As long as it's not on the lips. I mean, it's like we just met."

"Oh, no it's not!" he said. "You visit me almost every day!"

"We do?" I asked.

"Yeah!" he said. "Oh, and by the way, did you like my gift?"

"Oh, I loved it!" I said. "Thank you so much!"

"Ah, it's nothing!" he said. "I just found it on the ground the one day. I knew how long you tried to look for it."

I blushed a bit, smiling.

"Oh, and didn't you like Slendy's gift?" he finally said, then looked like he hated himself for saying that.

"Yeah," I said. "But it's weird how your gifts both went together."

"Oh, right," he said. "That's a long story about that…"

"Hey, did anything ever settle between you and Jeff?" I asked him, remembering the fight.

"Yeah," he said. "Everything's fine now."

We just chatted as we danced, and then I realized he was wearing a chain. _A chain?_ I thought. _That's weird. Wonder why he has that?_

"Hey…" 'Greg' whispered in my ear. "You guys should kiss…"

"EW, NO!" I screamed in his ear.

"Fine," he said, and Gemm was laughing as she dragged him back.

"Oh, 'Greg'!" Nathan laughed. "What are we going to do with you?"

When he said that, the voice started to sound more recognizable. I then knew I must've been with this person a whole lot, but I still couldn't place my finger on it.

"Oh," he said. "Was that a recognizable voice I just made there?"

"You're making me play the guessing game, aren't you?' I asked, and he smiled.

"Yep," he said. "Still can't figure it out, huh?"

I shook my head, and he just laughed.

"I was sure the outfit would do it, but I guess it's going to take more than that," he said, and I tried to place where I've seen the outfit before.

"Okay, just tell me already!" I said.

"Nope," he said back. "You figure out for yourself."

"Aw, c'mon!" I said.

"Oh, and as another hint, the milk-chugging thing was something hilarious that I wish you were there," he said, laughing.

"Milk-chugging?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "When you girls went out to get dresses. That's a pretty dress, by the way."

"Oh, thanks," I said. "Oh, **now** I remember the milk-chugging thing. Didn't Slendy do that?"

"Best thing ever done," he said.

"So, I heard it didn't end well," I said.

"Got too sick," he said. "The rest you don't want to hear."

I giggled a bit, and he looked at my necklace.

"Oh, I see you're wearing the necklace, huh?" he said. "Matches well, don't you think."

"You know about the necklace, too?" I said.

"Of course," he said. "I was the one who gave you it!"

"No, you didn't!" I said. "It was-"

"Before you say anymore," he said, cutting me off. "I noticed you have been looking at my chain. I guess I can show you it now."

He then took out the chain and held up a crystal on the end. The crystal looked just like the one I had, and glowed the same exact way.

"You see," he said. "I have the same necklace. It's **exactly** like yours."

**Chapter Seventeen**

_Nathan is Revealed_

I gasped at the necklace. There was only one person in the whole group who had one, as I remembered Jeff telling me so. My eyes widened as I realized who was really standing in front of me. _It all makes sense!_ My head screamed. _The music, the way he knows me, me meeting him everyday…_

"Sl-" I began to say, but he hold a finger to my mouth.

"Don't ruin the moment," he whispered in my ear, and I began to blush.

I then stared at him, and to Gemm, who giggled as she watched my expression. I smiled widely, and I hugged him. I hugged him so hard that I thought I was going to hurt him, but I was surprised when he hugged back. I then felt 'Nathan' get taller and taller until my feet were off the ground. He also got slimmer, too, and his fingers became a bit more jagged, but I didn't care. When I looked up, I was staring into the white face with no eyes. The face I have always known. As everyone was screaming and running out the door, I smiled at him, and my friends were just laughing as the rest went to their regular forms.

"I never would've guessed it was you, Slendy!" I told him.  
"I'm good, aren't I?" he said, and I was put back down.

"So, does it all make sense now?" Jeff asked.

"Yeah," I smiled. "It does."

"So, who want's to party?" Ben asked us as he went up to the DJ stand.

"WE DO!" Sarah shouted at her date, and he began so play a song.

We all partied for the rest of the night, and I was just chilling with Slendy, who turned into 'Nathan' afterwards, and we just laughed until are hearts gave out.

"I didn't think it would've taken you this long," he said.

"Why did you kiss me at the Christmas party?" I asked him, still surprised that he even did that.

"Well," he said, then blushed.

"What?" I said. "Is it because you're out of your mind?"  
"You could say that," he said. "But it's no fun now that you know who I am."

"So, I guess it's fine when you're a human to do that stuff," I asked.

"Pretty much," he said. "It'd be creepy as my regular form."

"True," I said. "That's so true."

I shivered at the thought, and I was glad that only the 'Nathan' side did that stuff. We smiled and laughed again, and then we all went home.

I then went to sleep, happy whom 'Nathan' turned out to be. I smiled as I hoped into bed and went to sleep. The next morning I woke up, ready to chill out with my pals. I walked down with Gemm, and I found the Creepy pastas gathered around a corner of the hideout.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Oh, uh…" Slendy said. "Well, I guess we should introduce you to him…"

"To who?" Gemm asked.

"Oh, so these are the two gals," a voice said from the corner.

"Don't tell me another one…" I said.

"Yep," Slendy said. "Remember how Jeff had friends in school…"

"Oh, great…" I said. "Don't tell me, it's… uh… what was his name? The one who went to jail…"

"Oh, Appy, right?" Gemm said.

"That's right," Jeff said, and he introduced us to his buddy.

Appy, or Happy Appy, was a red apple on a wooden stick with a face, one leaf sticking out the top, and arms and legs.

"So," I said. "He finally got out, huh? What'd he get caught for?"

"Murder," Jeff said. "But it happened long ago. We're trying to get him to quit, so it might not be good for the others to come down."

"But they're all Proxies," I said. "It should be fine, right?"

"Uh, no…" Slendy said. "The Proxy thing only works with me."

"Does he know the blue Proxy thing?" I tried to ask.

"Wait," Appy said. "You found the right girl this time?"

"Yep," Slendy said. "This is Crystal."

He pointed me and I introduced Gemm and myself.

"Well, well, well," the apple said. "She is exactly like the prophecy showed. And the symbol is blue as well."

"So, with this whole blue Proxy thing, am I just suppose to save your kind or what?" I tried to ask.

"We're not sure," Ben said. "But we think it has something to do with that."

"So, you have no idea," I said.

They all tried to come up with an answer to that one, but failed.

"Well," Slendy said. "The dream only showed us in a town with people and our kind fighting each other in this huge war. That's all we saw, and that's all we know."

"The end of the world thing is not true," L.J. said. "And we all know that one. But anything could happen…"

The rest of the day the whole group got used to Appy and we tried to keep the apple under control with this killing business. I then got a message on my phone from my mother and had to take the call outside.

"Uh!" I said after I hung up.

"Who was that?" Slendy said after he came out.

"My mother," I said. "She want's me to sign up for a summer job early. I told her I'm going to wait a bit."

"Where are you trying to get a job?" he asked.

"This doughnut shop I know," I said. "They give you free doughnuts when you work there."

"Free doughnuts?" he asked. "That's like, the best thing a job could give you besides money!"

"Don't you need money for something?" I asked him, remembering something he told me about that.

"What," he said. "Oh, that's just for water and food and stuff like that, but I only need it for when I'm a human."

"You should probably work there with me," I said. "I mean, you should probably be human now most of the time except for when you're with us. It's for protection, after all."

"You're right," he said, and changed into 'Nathan'. "I guess my human side will need some food…"

"It won't take long for you to sign up, and I can help you, too!" I said, and we headed over to the place to pick up some applications.

It didn't take long to fill them out and get the job.

"Sweet!" I said. "We don't have to work much, but we get a lot of money for it!"

"Awesome," he said. "Now, when do we start this job?"

"Not for a while," I said. "Until the end of th month, then we both work on weekends!"

"Okay," he said. "Give us something to do…"

I laughed and we headed out to the hideout again to meet with the others. Appy almost slashed 'Nathan', but I stopped him and told him that it was only Slendy.

"Oh, you mean Slender man," Appy said. "Yeah, I don't like to call him by that, but usually I call him Slender or something dumb like that."

"You called me a walking stick before," 'Nathan' said, staring down the apple.

"Guys, guys!" I said. "Will you stop fighting?"

"Yeah, _Slendy_," the apple said. "Do what your special Proxy says."

"SHUT UP!" 'Nathan' said in Appy's face. "Can you just leave me alone? And she's a blue Proxy!"

"And I'm a green apple," Appy joked. "It's a tiny difference, Slender, so what good does it make if I call her the wrong thing?"

That's when both 'Nathan' and I snapped. 'Nathan' changed to Slendy and used his tentacles to push him into the wall while I burned the top of the apple's head.

"Ow!" Appy cried. "Even though I'm immortal, it still BURNS!"

After two minutes of the Appy's complaining, we stopped the madness.

"Now," I said. "You be good and stop annoying us."

"Fine," the apple said. "I rather go back to jail then be here."

"Oh, would you?" I said and pulled out my phone.

"No, no, no, no," the apple said. "I'm fine, I'm fine!"

"That's what I thought," I said, then shut my phone off.

The rest of the time went smoothly, and I just chilled with all of them. I knew it was going to be a while for Appy to get used to things, and us to get used to him, but when we do, everything would be back to the way it was, but just with one extra person.

When I left, I continued usual homework and then just hung out with Zimmy.

"So," I said. "How are thing's going with Jess?"

"Fine," he said. "But she still is pissed about not being a Proxy."

"Did she annoy Slendy a lot?" I asked.

"Yep," the cat said. "And was clueless as well."

I chuckled a bit at that. She must've changed after they found me, since she must've been so pissed.

"So, are you starting to like her?" I asked.

"She's not too bad," he said. "But she does need to control herself sometimes."

"Some people are just that creepy," I said. "But you have to look past all that to see the true beauty inside."

"Yeah," he said. "And, by the way, are you surprised at the results of 'Nathan'?"

"Yeah!" I said. "The obvious became the one I least thought of. I never knew he was Slendy!"

"I thought the suit thing was obvious," he said. "But I guess anyone with a black suit and a red tie is a normal person to you."

"I can't wait to work at the doughnut shop with him!" I said.

"That should be, uh, interesting," Zimmy said.

"I think it'll be fun!" I said.

"I never seen him on a sugar rush, so I think that would be the most hilarious part ever!" the cat said.

"You're probably right," I said as I pet the cat and headed off to bed.

Okay, so the next few weeks of school went great with testing and all that. Finals weren't too bad, since I have a great memory on things like that. I thought I failed the finals at first, but then the teachers start arguing about my grades. Yes, the teachers are fighting about what I did right and wrong. When does that ever happen? Anyway, I passed all my classes and I was so happy when the bell rang on the last day of school, and we began to party!

"FINALLY!" Gemm said as we were walking home.

"I know, right?" I said. "Let's party at the hideout with everyone! Round up as many people as you can for an awesome summer party! I'll tell the others so they can be ready."

"Okay," Gemm said, and she ran ahead to round up some people.

I went to go tell everyone in the group, and they were all excited for this. I couldn't wait for another party, and I wanted to see everyone that wasn't in our group for one last time before we go off doing our own thing. When Gemm grabbed about 40-60 people, I was so happy that I was jumping for joy.

"LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!" Zack shouted, and we blared some techno music.

At least all the Creepy pastas were just hanging out with their dates in disguises and I was hanging out with 'Nathan'.

"Hey," I said. "Sweet party, huh?"

"Yeah," he said. "This was an awesome idea!"

"Oh, look," I said, pointing to Ben and Sarah hugging and doing their thing. "They finally went there…"

"Ha," 'Nathan' said. "So did Emma and 'John'…"

He pointed to the two kissing, and I laughed.

"I never expected this," I said. "And 'Fred' is just chilling."

'Fred' was Appy in disguise. He had red hair, but was redder that 'Nathan's'. He wore a red t-shirt and jeans. His eyes shifted left to right as he looked at the others of his friends with their mates. Finally, to 'Nathan's' and my surprises, Fern came over and started chilling with him.

"How much do you wanna bet," 'Nathan' said.

"All the money in the world for this one," I said back, and we started to laugh.

I never realized Fern and 'Fred' would hit it off together. I then watched as they started to laugh and talk.

"Huh," 'Nathan' said. "Look's like all of our types that we know have got someone…"

I knew exactly what he was thinking. _That's why everyone thinks we're together!_ I thought. _It's because they all started out like me and Slendy did to become friends, and they took it farther than we did!_ I stared at 'Nathan' as he sighed. I sighed as well, and immediately we looked into each other's eyes. _We're not together, we're not together…_

"Hey, 'Nathan' and Crystal, c'mon over here!" 'Greg' called.

We both walked over to 'Greg' and Gemm.

"Dude, do you see what I see…" he said, pointing to Fern and 'Fred'.

We both looked over and saw the two kissing, and my mouth dropped open.

"Ah, no way!" Gemm said. "Fern and 'Fred' together? I never saw that one coming."

"I was seeing Fern meet up with him secretly…" 'Greg' said. "As did the other two with their boyfriends."

"Really?" I asked. "They did that?"

"Sometimes, it only takes one look," Gemm said. "As 'Greg' and me did."

I then realized what Gemm means. It's that 'moment' you have when you stare into the opposite gender's eyes, and you know they're _yours_. I then looked at 'Nathan', who was staring at the other three.

"The funny thing is," he said. "That they thought being friends with normal humans was wrong. Well look who was right!"

"You disagreed?" I asked.

"Well," he said. "Not at first, but eventually."

I never knew there was a debate against this, but it does make sense why they would. We then started to chill out and chat until the party was over, and we said our last goodbyes to the people we won't see in a while.

"Better get home," I told the guys. "Oh, and 'Nathan', I'll pick you up by the edge of the forest to go to the doughnut shop for the first day's work."

"Fine by me," he said, and I left to go home.

The next morning, I did exactly what I said I would do and I drove 'Nathan' and myself to the awesome doughnut shop. They had some of the best doughnuts there, and having them free was like the best thing ever. We got ourselves ready and started to work. With 'Nathan' on cash register and myself with picking out stuff, we'd make an awesome team. We got only a few people in before we had to close and clean up, but we still made a whole bunch of money.

"Hey," I told 'Nathan'. "Let's pick out some doughnuts for ourselves."

"Ah yeah!" he said. "Let's get some doughnuts!"

We picked out a whole bunch, and we made sure our boss was okay with it. He let us pretty much take everything that was there, and we went back to the hideout with a whole bunch of doughnuts. When we did get back, we started to eat everyone until they were all gone.

"No more doughnuts?" 'Nathan' said quickly, and I soon realized he was on a sugar rush.

"Nope, no more," I said, feeling a bit sad.

"Can we get more?" he asked.

"We took everything they got," I said.

"NOOOOOOO!" he said, and I swore his eye started to twitch.

"I think you had to many-" I started to say.

"No, no I didn't!" he said, and I thought he was going to explode.

"Dude, calm down!" I said, and I started to laugh. "Why am I laughing? THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

I couldn't stop, and 'Nathan' started to run around the hideout in circles.

"Hey, Crystal you forgot-" 'Ricky' said as he came in. "What the heck?"

'Nathan' then saw the bag he had in his hand. 'Nathan' rushed over to him, grabbing the bag out of his hands.

"GIVE ME THAT!' he yelled, and tore the bag open to reveal a bagel. "Yes! More food!"

"No!" I said, and then kept laughing uncontrollably. As he ate the bagel, he then got crazier and started to spin on the ground, panting like a dog.

"What the-" 'Ricky' started to say.

"He's on a sugar rush," I said when I had the breath to, then kept laughing."

"You both are!" 'Ricky' said, and changed back into Zimmy. "'Nathan', snap out of it!"

But he kept spinning, and then he finally stopped. His smile got wider and he grabbed me.

"Let's go, Crystal!" he said and dragged me outside.

"Okay," I said, laughing.

"You guys are insane!" the cat called.

I then watch 'Nathan' try to climb a tree and fail, which was so funny. I was laughing so hard that I was tearing up, and I couldn't stop laughing. It took and hour for us to calm down.

"Okay," I said. "No more doughnuts for you."

"What about one a day?" he asked.

"Fine," I said. "As long as you don't have a sugar rush again."

The rest of the week was just like that. We fooled around a whole lot during break for lunch, and I thought we were going to get fired, but our boss liked it for some stupid reason. I guess us being happy and doing crazy things is better than complaining. The job was so much fun and we were getting a lot of money from it. As soon as 'Nathan' got a new food stash for himself, I finally realized he needs to get back on a 'human' diet rather than game. I then got him a whole bunch of regular food that we usually eat, and I told him what each one was and how to make it.

"What's the bottle of?" he said, pointing to the _Coca-Cola_ bottle.

"Oh, it's soda," I said. "It's like a fizzy juice."

He then tried it, and got on a sugar rush again. I just sighed as I watched him spin on the ground again.

"Maybe you shouldn't have soda," I said after he died down.

"Or any sugary things," he said. "Except _Twinkies_, because I can handle those."

"You can fry _Twinkies_ too, ya know," I said.

"What?" he said. "Are you for real?"

"Yep," I said. "They fry a whole bunch of things."

"Can I try any?" he asked.

"I don't know," I said. "Sugar rushes might come from them, too."

"Aw," he said.

I had to watch him incase he found anything sugary again. I turned my back to get something, and when I turned around, he had a _Red Bull_ in his hands.

"No," I said. "DON'T DRINK THAT!"

But it was too late, and the crazy sugar rush began.

**Chapter Eighteen**

_Best Birthday Ever!_

After I took away everything from the pile that had sugar or was an energy drink, I left and got ready for the next day at work. The next few days were normal as usual, until the employee of the month award started to come around. The award had a special prize to it, but it was a surprise as to what it was. 'Nathan' and I tried to be good, but it was so hard when you can take free doughnuts. 'Nathan' had to work another hour the one day since he needed extra money for something, and I left for the day. My birthday was in another week, and my friends told me not to plan anything, since it was in their hands this year. I was anxious to find out what they were planning, and I wanted to know so badly what I was getting. All I know is that it's a **big** gift, since turning 17 was a big deal in our group. When you turn 17, you can basically do what you want without a parent watching you. I couldn't wait to see what we were going to do, and I was excited to find out how they were going to tell me. When I went to the hideout the one day, I saw all the Creepy pastas in normal form, and they had a big card.

"Is this for my birthday?" I asked.

"Maybe," Gemm said.

I opened it, and I read the message.

_Happy B-day Crystal!  
For an awesome B-day this year, 'Nathan', Gemm and 'Greg' are taking you to California for an awesome Vay-Cay!_

"WHAT!" I screamed. "THIS IS AWESOME!"

We got an awesome group hug and I thanked the guys for this.

"But how can you-" I started to say.

"I somehow got employee of the month," Slendy said.

"And that was their special prize?" I asked.

"Yep," he said. "They had a lot of extra money, so they just invested it into this, and we got a room at an awesome hotel!"

"This is going to be the best B-day ever!" I said.

"You know it!" Jeff said. "And we're going to have an awesome time!"

I smiled at the awesome gift. I never knew it would be **this big**! I was even surprised that my mother would even let me go.

"Hey, you're with them most of the time," she said. "And 'Nathan' is like, 20 right?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Since he's an adult, and he can't drink, you guys should be fine," she said and smiled.

"This should be awesome!" I said.

The week went by slowly, but when it finally came, I was so happy to finally go with my pals to the airport to fly off. I sat next to 'Nathan' as we chilled and waited.

"Dude," I said. "This is awesome!"

"I know, right?" he said. "I never thought the gift was California for an employee of the month trip."

When we finally landed, we went to the hotel room right away. The room was so nice, with two beds and a whole kitchen and T.V. area. The bathrooms were nice as well. I flopped down on the bed, which was nice and soft.

"This is awesome!" I said. "But where are you guys gonna sleep?"

"We'll turn tiny and sleep on the nightstand," 'Nathan' said.

"You can do that while in a disguise?" Gemm asked.

"Yeah," 'Greg' said. "And we'd be tiny people. We just have to watch out for the cleaning ladies."

We laughed as we began to unpack. Two weeks in L.A. isn't bad, and I couldn't wait to get down to the beach. As soon as we got our swimsuits on, we headed down.

"Dude," Gemm said. "Let's rent out a surf board!"

"I know how to surf!" I said. "I did it all the time at the boardwalk when I was little!"

We each brought a whole bunch of money to spend incase we needed it. We each got a board and I headed for the waves. I hopped on one, and I sailed a couple of waves.

"Wow, Crystal," 'Nathan' said. "You're good at this! Now let me try…"

He hopped on his board, and tried the same thing I did, but fell off.

"Ha-ha," I said. "Nice try. Now you have to keep balance…"

After me and Gemm taught the boys how to surf, we began to ride together.

"Look at that wave coming," Gemm said.

I then saw the huge wave coming towards us, and both "Nathan' and I swam up to it. We both stood up, and the wave began to make a tunnel around us.

"This is awesome!" 'Nathan' said.

"I know," I said, and I laughed.

The sight was amazing. I was expecting a dolphin just to appear out of nowhere, like they do in the movies, but they stayed away. When we came to the shore, Gemm and 'Greg' were both amazed.

"Dude," 'Greg' said. "That was awesome!"

The whole day we surfed, and I was having an amazing time. The next day we went to Universal and rode a whole bunch of coasters, which was so much fun. I was laughing as we rode coaster after coaster. We went to a couple of 3D movies as well, and they were fun, too. I then went around with my pals, doing a whole bunch of things and having a ball of fun. The day after that we went to Disneyland, which was hilarious after we rode their coasters and things, and we were laughing so hard that we almost passed out. We almost got sick on the teacups and I beat everyone in _Toy story Mania_. The rides that were there were so much fun, and we even went to that light show, too, and got the hats that color changed with the show. We then rode the Ferris wheel at the end, and when we got to the top, we could see the whole park.

"Having fun?" 'Nathan' asked me.

"Of course!" I said. "This is like the best B-day I ever had."

When I looked at my watch, it was one minute before I officially turned 17. I told the rest this, and we did a countdown.

"Three," they said as we watched the clock. "Two, one!"

They then shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" at me, and I smiled. It then felt like the whole wheel was cheering, and they were! When I got off, we all laughed.

"That was like, perfect timing!" 'Greg' said.

"I was surprised the whole wheel cheered," Gemm said. "That was the cool part."

I laughed, and we headed to our hotel. When we got ready for bed, I thanked the guys for an awesome day.

"No problem," 'Nathan' said.

"I'm just glad I finally got out here," I said.

"Us too," 'Greg' said. "Us too…"

"Hey guys," Gemm said after she came out from putting her PJ's on. "Why don't we go to Hollywood tomorrow?"

"That sounds awesome!" I said. "I would love to go!"

We all agreed that's where we were going the next day. When the sunlight finally came into the room, we got ready for the next day. We then headed over to Hollywood and hanged out there. It was cool to see all the sets and everything. We got so many pictures and we were having a blast. I then texted my mother and told her everything we did. She was happy to get the pictures, and she said to send more.

"Of course we're going to take more," Gemm said. "Why not?"

I smiled as we continue to walk around.

"Now," I said. "We have to come back when I'm 21 for some _real_ fun!"

We all laughed at that joke, and we took another picture with the sign and us. When the day was over, we headed back and just chilled in the room.

"You know," I said. "What should we do tomorrow?"

"How about just the beach again," 'Greg' said. "Be a good last day, huh?"

"Sounds good to me," I said.

The next day, we hung out at the beach and went surfing again.

"I have to get out my old surfboard and go up to the boardwalk again," I said.

"That would be fun," 'Nathan' said. "Having us all go surfing on the boardwalk…"

"Yeah," I said. "Or just you and me."

_Did I really just say that?_ I thought. _Uh! Why did I say that!_

"That, too," he said, and we both blushed.

That night we stayed out and watched fireworks, since it was 4th of July. It was a nice night for fireworks as we watched them shoot up and explode over our heads.

"This is awesome," I said. "Thanks guys."

"I hope to d this again next year," Gemm said. "If 'Nathan' can get the award again."

"I'll try," he said, and we laughed.

The next day we headed out to the airport and flew back. This time I sat with Gemm, and 'Nathan' was with 'Greg'.

"You like him, don't you," she said.

"Who?" I asked.

"You know whom!" she said.

"I, uh…" I started to say. "We're not together, okay?"

"You like him," Gemm said. "I can tell. You look at him with bright eyes and he always smiles that way when he talks to you, no matter what form he's in!"

"Shut up!" I said. "I'm just a friend of his!"

"Are you sure this whole blue Proxy thing doesn't mean something else other than the prophecy…" Gemm asked.

"Like what?" I said.

"Oh, c'mon!" she said. "You know what I mean."

"What," I said. "That he _likes_ me? No, that's not it."

"But it's like you were meant to be," Gemm said. "Just like me and 'Greg'."

"No," I said. "It's totally different."

"Um, I don't think so," she said, giggling.

"Oh, will you stop it!" I said.

"Fine," she said. "But you know I'm right."

Okay, maybe she was right, but it's not a competition. We're just friends, that's all, or, are we? I couldn't help but look back at them, and they were just watching a shark movie on the screen. My heart felt like it was melting when I looked at 'Nathan'. _Ah!_ I thought as I looked away. _What's wrong with me? We're just friends! That's it!_

"You do…" Gemm whispered to me. "I can tell."

"I can't stop myself…" I said. "What's wrong with me?"

"It's okay, Crystal," she said. "I felt the same way when I said yes to Jeff when he asked me out. Just let go…"

"But it feels weird," I said.

"The man took you to California!" she said. "What's not weird about this?"

"I'm just going to let everything fall into place," I said.

"And do nothing!" Gemm said. "Okay, girl, you have to be kidding me!"

"Is this what you and Zimmy were talking about when he told you that 'Nathan' was Slendy," I asked, trying to change subjects.

"Zimmy thinks the same exact thing," Gemm said. "C'mon, you can't just let it alone!"

"Hey," I said. "I'll do what I want to do. Why do you want me to be with this guy?"

"Because," Gemm said. "I feel like you guys were meant to be. I'm just trying to help."

"Well," I said. "You may be right, but I don't know…"

"Fine," she said. "Let's do it your way and let fait do it's thing."

I smiled when Gemm decided to stop the conversation. I then realized why she did, because the guys were looking at us for some weird reason, and chatting, too. I then saw 'Nathan' get pissed and I tried to match up his mouth to what I think he was saying. I had to turn around a few times so I didn't look like a stalker, but as I kept looking, I tried to see what they were saying. Gemm began to look as well, and wrote down what she thinks the conversation was. I looked at the notes, and I then got surprised when I read it.

_Nathan: I don't like her! We're just friends!_

_Greg: Sure, and Gemm and I are two magical unicorns riding on a rainbow!_

_N: Dude!_

_G: What? Oh, don't tell me you don't like her? She obviously likes you!_

_N: You don't know that!  
G: I can tell, and I bet cha right now they're talking about the same thing!_

_N: Oh, shut up!_

When I looked at Gemm, we both gasped.

"See," she said. "Told ya!"

"Oh, this doesn't mean anything!" I said.

"Oh, really?" she said. "Then how come you both say the same thing when we both ask the same question?"

"I don't know!" I said.

"Oh, just admit it!" she said.

"I have nothing to admit," I said back. "Why do you pressure me with these things? Firs with Zack, which, by the way, you were right-"

"Knew it," she said.

"And now with 'Nathan'!" I exclaimed. "What's with you?"

"I'm just nosey," she said, and smiled.

When we got off the plane and regrouped, I saw Gemm and 'Greg' chat between each other.

"Wonder what they're talking about," 'Nathan' said.

"I don't know…" I said, and then I saw that she was showing 'Greg' the notebook.

"What's that notebook for?" he asked.

"I don't know," I said, and just hoped it wasn't the conversation she wrote down.

When we headed back to the hideout after a long drive back home, Gemm and 'Greg' both looked at us.

"What?" I asked.

"You know what," Gemm said.

"Shut up!" I said. "This is so not true!"

"Oh, great," 'Nathan' said. "You both think-"

"Oh, look who figured it out!" 'Greg' said, and turned back into Jeff.

"This is insane!" I said.

"What's your deal?" 'Nathan' said.

"Just admit it," Gemm said.

"NO!" both 'Nathan' and me said.

"See," Gemm said. "Just like I said. They answer the questions the same way. We're so right!"

"We got you!" Jeff said. "I knew we were right!"

"What's wrong with you two?" I said. "WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!"

"Sure you are," Gemm said. "And I'm a dinosaur."

"Don't make me turn into one!" I said, holding my crystal.

"Is that necessary?" Jeff asked.

"Is it?" I asked. "Because if you two don't stop this, it might as well be!"

The two just looked at me. Yes, I snapped. I was mad that they would force this to happen.

"C'mon, Crystal," 'Nathan' said. "Maybe we should just go,"

We both left and headed up to the mansion to chill.

"They're jerks," he said. "It's not true."

"Yeah," I said. "They just want to be right."

"Wonder what made them come up with the topic?" he wondered.

"Beats me," I said. "Could be many things, but I don't care."

We just laughed and chilled out until I heard a very faint noise from in the basement. We both heard this and found Splendor wrapped in chains.

"What the-" 'Nathan' began to say.

"What happened?" I finally said, and we got him free.

"That stupid fox…" he said.

"Rocky?" 'Nathan' asked.

"Who else?" the brother said. "He's the only fox we know…"

"Not exactly," 'Nathan' said, changing back to Slendy. "My cousin knows a few…"

"Oh, right," Splendor said. "Those two, the ones who drive me insane as well…"

"What other foxes?" I asked.

"Long story," Slendy said.

"Oh," I said back. "Too long to tell?"

"To confusing to tell," he said. "Unless you're into universal traveling…"

"What?" I asked.

"See," he said. "Too confusing to explain."

After we got Splendor out of the house, I left to go home and chill. I told Zimmy everything that happened, and he just smiled.

"Sound's like you had fun," he said.

"We did," I told him. "Except for the plane ride back…"

"Ah, what do they know," he said. "They're just guessing, that's all."

I laughed, knowing he was right. What did they know besides that we're friends? I then went to the window and I found a note on the tree outside.

"Ah," the cat said. "Slendy and his notes on the trees, the things he'll always do…"

I grabbed the note and read it, and I smiled.

_Hey, Crystal! I took care of Jeff and Gemm by pranking them. That'll teach them!_

I laughed a little, and I then saw Jeff and Gemm running away from Slendy through my backyard and laughed. It looked like Gemm was about to piss her pants, and the same with Jeff. When they left the backyard, I ran outside to follow them. I threw fireballs at them until they apologized, and I let Slendy chase them away. I then went home and wrote more music, and then I went to bed.

The next day I went to the hideout, and I saw everyone there, except for Slendy.

"Uh, where's Slendy?" I asked.

"That's just it," Jeff said. "We don't know!"

**Chapter Nineteen**

_Car accident_

"WHAT?" I said, and I got scared, really fast.

Okay, I know Slendy can't die, but he can be extremely hurt. The rest were panicking as well, hoping nobody did anything to him

"Did you check everywhere?" I asked.

"Yeah," Jeff said. "And the last place we saw him was near the road that crosses through the forest."

I knew which road they were talking about. The road was there so that it was like a shortcut through the woods for people who wanted to get to the lake faster. The road was said to have bad things happen to it, but people don't care. Anything could've happened, and I got sick to my stomach.

"Don't worry, Crystal," Gemm said. "I'm sure he's fine…"

I then got a vision. I told everyone to get quiet while I saw it and explained what I saw.

"Okay," I said, shaking with fear. "I see a road, surrounded by trees. I now see Slendy walking through it. There's a yellow van and now… oh my…"

I stopped there, horrified by what I saw. I almost began to cry at the vision.

"And, what?" Gemm asked.

I just shook my head. I was stunned. _No,_ I told myself. _That couldn't have happened…_

"Crystal?" Jeff asked, and they all looked worried.

"We have to go to the road," was all I said, and we dashed off.

I ran so fast that I thought I would've collapsed once I got there. I then changed into a hawk and started to fly around.

"See anything?" Ben asked once I landed.

"No," I said. "I'll try again…"

I flew up, higher than any of the trees, and searched long and hard. I then saw a speck lying in the ground right near the road. I flew down towards it, and realized it was a cat. But it wasn't just any cat. It was Slendy!

"OMG!" I screamed once I saw the cat.

It was horrible. The whole side was bleeding. I was so terrified that I didn't move.

"Cyst-" it tried to say, then the head fell down in the snow.

"Holy-" Jeff said. "Alright, let's try to get him off the road."

I helped Jeff carry the cat off into the woods until we reached our hideout. I found the first aid kit and wrapped up the bloody mess while the cat just lay still, not saying a word. I knew that it must hurt, since his whole body got wrapped up, like that car rammed him.

"So, what now?" Gemm asked. "He can't stay here, and he can't go home, either."

"I don't know," Jeff said. "But we better think of something…"

"Maybe I should take him in," I said. "I mean, since he's now a cat, it should be fine."

_What's wrong with me?_ My head screamed. _Take him in? YOU'RE NOT A NURSE! You don't even know how to take care of him!_

"Well," Ben said. "That's the best idea we have for this. Nobody else would really know how."

"She doesn't know how, either," Gemm said. "So I guess I'll have to help her with this one."

"I guess that could work," I said.

Gemm was really good with this type of stuff. She had to take care of Jewel all the time, and her little sister got cuts and bruises all the time. I'm sure even Jewel could help, too, even if she's not a big fan of Slendy.

"Then it's settled," L.J. said. "Crystal and Gemm will take care of him for now."

The cat eventually fell asleep, since it had nothing better to do, and we just made sure the bandages didn't fall off. I finally carried the cat home, and placed him on the bed. Gemm came with me, of course, and we tried to think of what to do next.

"Maybe we should just let him rest," I said. "I'm sure it's going to be a while before he'll be well enough to change back."

"Good idea," Gemm said. "And maybe Zimmy can help with this."

That's when my mother came up and saw the injured cat on the bed.

"Oh, dear," she said. "Not another cat!"

"Don't worry," I said. "It's not going to be here for long. Just until he's better."

"The cat does have some unusual markings," she said, looking at the cat. "It's like he's wearing a tuxedo."

I laughed a bit, and then explained the whole situation. My mother then understood and then brought Zimmy up.

"I know of your little secret about Zimmy," she said. "So he'll be some help, I suppose."

She then dropped the cat on the bed, and he went over to the other one.

"How did my mother find out that you talk?" I asked him.

"She caught me the one day," he said. "And… uh… oh my-"

"Yeah," I said. "I think he got hit by a car…"

"Wait," Gemm said. "How do you know that?"

"Because," I said. "That was the vision I had, and it wasn't pretty."  
"Gee," Zimmy said. "Most of the time he's careful about this stuff. It's gonna be a while before he can get enough energy to change back."

"Energy?" I asked. "Like, energy to move?"

"No," he said. "All of our types need energy to change into another form. When one get's hurt, they lose energy and stay in that form for a while. Could be days before they can even change back."

"So," I said. "How long before he'll be well again?"

"He'll be able to talk by tomorrow," Zimmy told us. "And it's going to be about a week for him to change back…"

"Great," I said. "So I'm going to have two cats for a while…"

"It's not so bad," Gemm said. "At least they each have each other's company."  
"Yeah," I sighed. "That is true."

The little white cat's legs began to move as he slept, and I could tell he was dreaming. It was kind of cute in a way, and I smiled as I watched him. It took a while for the cat to wake up, but he couldn't talk at all and all he could do was move his head.

"Dang, dude," Zimmy said. "You got beat up bad."

"Zimmy!" I said.

Slendy tried to speak, but failed.

"You're going to be like this for a little bit," I said. "You won't be able to talk until tomorrow."

The cat then rolled his eyes, and went back to sleep.

"Must be really tired," Gemm said. "I know I would be if I were like that."

I then move the cat down to the floor and made a small bed for him. I then started to write more music, and saved it on my laptop. I did this until Gemm decided to go home and it was about 8:00.

"Well," I told the two cats. "Better get some sleep."

I then went to bed and tried to sleep, but visions of stuff kept coming up. Between Slendy being hit by a car and me being pelted with rocks, I knew it was going to be a while before I could finally go to sleep. Zimmy then finally curled up next to me.

"Now, can you please stop sleep talking!" he said. "Stop screaming Slendy's name in your sleep!"

"I was sleep talking?" I sleepily asked. "Oh, sorry. I keep having those visions."

"Just try to get some sleep…" he said, and curled up on the pillow next to me.

"Okay," I said, then closed my eyes again.

That night I couldn't stop having visions. I finally opened my eyes again at around 3:00 in the morning.

"Oh, crap!" I said, still very sleepy.

I then looked over to make sure each cat was okay. Between Zimmy's awkward position on the pillow and Slendy still snoring, I just chuckled a bit and went back to sleep. Dreams and memories of the California trip finally got me to sleep. When I woke up, Zimmy was on the ground and Slendy was in a C shape, swimming in a pool of blankets.

"Good morning," Zimmy said. "How'd ya sleep?"

"Not good," I said. I then went to get dressed and all that stuff, and finally Slendy got up.

"What the-" he said. "Where am I?"

"You don't remember anything from yesterday?" I said.

"Oh, wait-" he said, sleepily, and then concentrated.

"You got hit by a car," Zimmy finally said.

"Aw, what?" he said, and then looked at the bandaged wound. "How'd that happened?"

"Beats me," I said. "I wasn't there. I just had a vision and we rushed over after you were missing."

"Oh, now I remember," he said. "The car just popped out of nowhere…"

"Sure it did," I said sarcastically. "Anyway, I have no idea what to feed you or anything."

"Just give him fish," Zimmy said. "He's on a cat diet when he's a cat."

"Makes sense," I said. "Just help me pick out the food…"

We just gave him tuna fish in a can, and it helped him a bit.

"You're going to be here for a while," I said. "And Gemm's helping me with this."

"Fine," the little white cat said. "My head is just buzzing around."

Gemm finally did come over, and we replaced the bandages.

"Dang," Slendy said. "This hurts more than when we were in that wild fire and I was just grabbing branches."

"I remember that," I said. "That's the day I became a Proxy."

"Oh yeah," Gemm said. "That was scary. I thought you guys were never coming out."

We just laughed and shared memories so the cat wasn't hurting as bad. I felt a bit bad that he was injured, and I just watched him for the rest of the day. Each day he got better and better, until he had almost all his energy back. That day he was moving around and getting used to the house, and I just let him run freely around the place.

"It's good for you to get up and moving," I said. "After all those days just laying in bed…"

"Yeah," he said. "Helps a whole lot."

"So, are you almost well?" I asked.

"I think so," he said. "One more day ought to do it."

I then went back to writing and making music. I got more recommendations from people, and I taped myself again, playing more of my music and sending it out. I was a top hit on the site, and I was having so much fun just chilling at home with the two cats. I then took them out to the hideout so that people from our group could see that Slendy was doing fine.

"Nice to see you're doing well," Jeff said. "It wasn't pretty having Crystal and myself carry you back."

"Wait," he said. "You two carried me back?"

"Yep," I answered. "It wasn't easy, seeing all that blood."

"Hey," he said. "I felt the same when you got pelted with rocks. Your whole face was bleeding."

"At least they stopped," Gemm said. "But it was still horrible that they would do such a thing. Proxy hunters are jerks."

"So true," I said. "So true…"

"So," Appy said, joining us. "How was staying at the girl's house?"

"Dude!" Jeff said. "This is no time for joking! It was serious!"

"I still think that you should've not changed so that it was easier," the apple said. "But I guess it would hurt less when you're smaller."

"And how would we carry him back?" I asked. "That would be hard!"

"Uh, yeah!" Gemm said. "I can barely carry my sister!"  
"We would've all had to pitch in for that one," Jeff said, and we all laughed.

That day, we let Slendy just chill in the forest since he was going to change back. The next day I met 'Nathan' back in the forest.

"Oh good," I said. "You got your energy back!"

"Yeah," he said. "Though it hurt the first time…"

"Hey," I said. "Wanna go chill at my place?"

"Sure," he said. "Nothing else better to do."

We walked back to my backyard, and we realized it was getting hot, really, really hot. Like, so hot that we went inside and brought out all the fans.

"Okay," I said. "We need to cool down somehow. The only things we have are just packet and packets of Jell-O that my mother wanted me to use."

"Can we just make a whole bunch of Jell-O?" 'Nathan' asked. "I mean, there's enough here that we can swim in it!"

I then got an idea. It was the weirdest idea I had ever had. When I told 'Nathan' my idea, he wanted to do it so bad that he was grabbing the packets and getting them outside.

"Now," he said. "How are we going to do this?"

"Beats me," I said. "But once this is complete, all our friends are going to be so jealous!"

"So," he said. "How do you make a Jell-O pool?"

**Chapter Twenty**

_Joke is on you!_

"I don't know," I said. "But I guess I should grab my blow-up kiddie pool, huh?"

"Yeah," he said. "That would be useful."

I then went inside to go up in the attic. I went upstairs and to the end of the hallway the white door that led to the attic. I propped it open, since it can't open on the other side. I then went up into the small room, and searched. The only light that was there was from the window. It viewed the backyard, and it can open to let in some air. I then found the small box that had the kiddie pool in it, and went to go back down the steps, when I heard a loud slam. I turned and looked down the steps, and I realized the door was shut.

"Aw, no!" I said. "Okay, don't panic. I'm sure I can get someone to open it. Oh, that's right, the window!"

I ran up the stairs and opened the window.

"DUDE!" I shouted.

"What?" 'Nathan' called up.

"You'll never believe this," I said. "But I locked myself in the attic!"

"How'd you manage that?" he said.

"The door only opens one way," I said. "And I propped it open, but something closed it!"

"Was it Zimmy?" he asked.

"Probably my mom," I said. "Thinking I left it open again!"

"Hold on," he said. "I'm coming up!"

It only took a little bit to get me out of the attic, and I found out that it was Jess who closed it. She was hanging out with Zimmy today and she wanted to get revenge on me.

"That little-" I started to say.

"Don't bother," 'Nathan' said. "It'll only make it worse."

"Anyway," I continued. "I got the pool. Now let's go!"

We went back outside in the summer heat and I began to blow up the pool, and we got the hose ready. When the pool was inflated, I then filled it with water. We then dumped out the packets of Jell-O into the pool, and then put ice bags around it to chill it. When it was done, we hopped in, and to my surprise, it actually worked!

"Dude," I said. "This is AWESOME!"

"Yeah," he said. "Who knew kiddie pools could be awesome. The only thing, though, is that our clothing is going to smell like it."

"I don't care," I said. "It'll remind me of this every time I wear it!"

We then just chilled in the little pool, and we even got Gemm over to chill with us.

"OMG!" she said once she saw the pool. "This is awesome! The pool's just big enough for all three of us!"

She then hopped in, and we were just chilling in the awesome pool. When we got out, you could see imprints of ourselves in it. Gemm and I took pictures and sent them to our friends.

"I have to get a phone," 'Nathan' said. "They seem like fun!"

"Yeah they are!" I said. "Oh, great! It's that 'Jelly Spread' thing again!"

"Jelly Spread?" Gemm asked. "Oh, yeah! That stupid text that keeps saying 'Go play Jelly Spread' and then when you go to delete it, it's not there!"

"Creepy," 'Nathan' said.

I showed him the message, which stayed up longer this time, and the messages were just creepy. We tried to view them, but then a picture of Smile Dog came up.

"Oh, is this Jeff!" Gemm said, and she replied. "I knew it! I'm going to send a nice little response to him right now!"

I laughed a bit at the message, but it's too nasty to tell you what it said. I then sent him one myself, and then we all did. We were laughing so hard, and I was nearly in tears when Jeff was getting pissed off.

"Dude, we should go scare the crap out of him now!" I said. "Okay, 'Nathan', let's turn invisible and pop out at him!"

We then both disappeared and we went to go find Jeff. We then found him in the one tree, texting us back angrily.

"These guys are so annoying!" he said.

We then both popped out, and Jeff fell out of where he was.

"You guys!" he said. "You got me!"

"Now, can you stop sending us messages?" I asked.

"Fine," he said.

"And what the heck is 'Jelly Spread'?" I asked.

"Just a name I came up with…" he said.

"Oh," 'Nathan' said. "I remember that prank!"

"What prank?" I asked.

"We pranked Ben and L.J. once," Jeff said. "They fell asleep at a party, so we spread jelly all over their faces!"

"I should've been there," I said. "I would've done the old sharpie trick…"

"Sharpie trick?" they both asked.

"When you draw mustaches on them with sharpie," I said. "Or other things…"

"OH!" Jeff said. "I know what you mean! We did that to Appy once!"

"I remember," 'Nathan' said. "That was funny!"

"Hey," I said. "I wanna do pranking with you guys!"

"Sure," Jeff said. "Next target is going to be that Zack kid."

"YES!" I said. "The guy is in such need of a prank!"

We then laughed, and Gemm then found us.

"Oh, hey Gemm," Jeff said, walking strait towards her.

"Did you get my message of the Jell-O pool?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "You guys should've invited me!"

"Sorry," 'Nathan' said. "There was only room for three!"

I then told Gemm about pranking Zack.

"OMG Yes!" she said.

"Let's set up a special party," I said. "Where we make everyone sleep. Then, we prank as many people as we can!"

We all agreed on this, and invited all our friends to come to the 'party'.

"What's this for?" Katy asked when she came in with Kat.

"Just for fun," I said, trying to keep myself from laughing.

We were going to prank them so good, since we got special powder that was safe and it makes you fall asleep. We each handed everyone a cookie with the powder in it. WE told them not to each it until after everyone had one. When we told everyone they could eat the cookie now, then immediately fell asleep.

"Okay," I whispered. "Don't wake anyone up and let's go on a pranking spree!"

I then took out my awesome blue sharpie that was a nice light blue and stared to draw on Zack's face. I drew a whole bunch of stuff, and then went from one face to the next. I was holding back my laughter so hard that I thought I could explode. We also got out the jelly and did the same prank to L.J. and Ben, and we also got sharpie and drew on Appy's face. We then got out poppers and woke everyone up, and they saw that they were pranked. I was in tears and 'Nathan' was on the ground laughing. Jeff and Gemm were literally holding each other up, trying hard not to fall down like 'Nathan' did. Everyone else just looked at us.

"We got you so good!" 'Nathan' said.

"Fine," Appy said. "Now the joke is on you!"

Everyone started to chase after us, and we ran for our lives. I was still laughing as I ran, then me and 'Nathan' decided to go invisible while we watch the group chase after Gemm and Jeff. 'Nathan' then turned into Slendy, and we were dying of laughter.

"Okay," he said. "That was like, the BEST THING EVER!"

"I know right," I said.

We then saw Jeff and Gemm run back, and they were getting pelted with tomatoes.

"Where'd they get those?" I asked.

"They must've known we were doing this," Slendy said.

"I guess either Jeff or Gemm spilled the beans," I said. "Since neither one of us told them."

"Yeah," he said. "I never been pranked right after I pranked somebody."

"This is the first for all of us," I said, and we turned visible. "Let's go back and join them."

"Okay," he said, and we headed back to a tomato war. We just looked at each other, and decided not to interfere. But, we were seen and they started to pelt us with tomatoes.

"UH!" I said. "Fine, then we're in…"

We both grabbed a tomato and started throwing at anyone that looked like a good target. When we were done, I smelled like tomatoes and Jell-O mixed with sharpie and jelly.

"Dang," I said. "I guess I should get a shower…"

"Same," Gemm said, and we left to get cleaned.

As we were walking home, Gemm looked at me with bright eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"Admit it," she said. "You still like him."

"Oh, shut it!" I said, and I took off one of the smashed tomatoes off my shirt and hit her with it.

"Fine," she said. "But you know I'm right…"

That's when I reached my house and quickly got cleaned.

"What happened?" Zimmy asked after I got clean clothes on.

"We got pranked after we pranked everybody," I said.

"Ha, looks like the joke is on you!" he said.

"Don't remind me…" I said.

I then went into the bedroom, and I saw the white Persian there.

"Aw, Zimmy," I said. "You're still with her! That's so sweet!"

"Yeah," he said. "But now she doesn't have a cat name anymore…"

"Why?" I asked.

"Because it's hard for her to remember it," he said.

"Huh," I said. "I forgot what it was myself. I guess Jess is easier to remember."

"Yep," the white, fluffy cat said. "I forgot it a while ago."

"Hey," I said. "Just wondering, but you haven't seen any of those Proxy hunters, have you?"

"No," Zimmy said. "I guess you gave them what they wanted."

"I guess you're right," I said. "But why just leave me alone now? Don't they want to know more?"

"I guess not," Jess said. "It's not what they're after."

I then realized I forgot to check the mail, and quickly went to grab it. When I came back in, I realized there was a letter for me. I took it out of the pile and headed upstairs. When I was in my bedroom, I took the letter and read it.

_Dear Crystal,_

_We are happy you gave us as much info as you did. We would like to hear more about you being a Proxy by coming down to our hideout. Please bring the one who made you a Proxy, if you can, so we can gather more information._

_Sincerely,_

_The Proxy hunters_

"Well," Zimmy said. "Does that answer your question?"

"But," I said. "Why would I want to go down there if I was fighting them when I last saw them."

"Beats me," he said. "But you should bring 'Nathan' down with you just incase."

"Why should I go at all?" I asked.

"Because," the cat said. "If you don't, they're going to find you, if you like it or not!"

**Chapter Twenty-One**

_The Proxy Hunter Meeting_

After I found the letter, I went strait to Slendy and asked him what I should do.

"Zimmy told me that you should go with me as 'Nathan'," I said.

"It's a good idea," he said, and changed into his disguise. "We shall go now."

"Why do they want us?" I asked.

"Because," 'Nathan' said. "You're the blue Proxy! Why wouldn't they want you?"

"Good point," I said. "So, are you sure nothing's going to happen?"

"I don't know," he said. "I wish I knew, though. I wish I knew…"

That's when another vision came in.

"Another one?" he said.

"SHH," I said. "You have to be quiet when I see these things."

"Sorry," he whispered. "What do you see?"

"I see us," I said. "We're in an old factory. I see Bruce and Gus, and… is that 'Kyan'? Yes, it is! He's the leader. I think it's a trap! We're now in a cage, and we're trapped in the factory as I see 'Kyan' coming closer. And, now… I lost it!"

"We're still going," he said.

"After what I saw?" I said. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," he said. "If that's how it's going to go, it's easier for me to get that fox!"

"How?" I said.

"Well," he began. "If we're in a factory, and in a cage, I can just swap up out and put him in. Then it'll be him in the cage…"

"Oh," I said. "Makes sense. But what about the other Proxy hunters?"

"They're lost without their leader," he said.

"Okay," I said. "I'll just do what you tell me to do."

"Pretty much," 'Nathan' said. "Now, where's this hideout?"

We looked at the letter again, and it led us right to the old factory. The factory used to make toys and things like that. I then held 'Nathan's' hand as we walked in, and Gus greeted us.

"Well," he said, looking at 'Nathan'. "Who's this?"

"Just a friend," I said, and Gus let us in. "This is creepy…"

"Yeah," 'Nathan' said. "Creepier than anything I've ever been in before."

We then got into the main part of the factory, which was huge. I saw Bruce up on a balcony, standing high and proud. I then saw a dark figure behind him, and when it came out of the shadows, it clearly became 'Kyan', looking down at us.

"Be careful," I whispered to 'Nathan'. "There's probably a-"

We then saw a big metal cage drop over us, and I looked at 'Nathan'.

"Cage…" I manage to finish.

"Well, looks like you brought me what I wanted…" 'Kyan' said.

"You're sick," I spat at him. "Sick, twisted, and terrible!"

"Thank you," he said with a sly grin. "For that lovely compliment!"

"What do you want?" 'Nathan' asked.

"That crystal!" he said. "That magic crystal is what I want!"

"Well, too bad," I said. "You can't have either of ours…"

"What do you mean by 'either'?" he asked, then saw I had a crystal, too. "Ah, so looks like you both got one…"

"What now," I asked.

"I don't know," 'Nathan' whispered back. "The bars are closer than I expected…"

"Oh, c'mon now…" 'Kyan' said. "Don't be shy…"

"Watch what I do," I said, and I then turned into a mouse. 'Nathan' followed my lead, and we got out.

"Now what?" he asked in a high pitch squeak.

"Find that cage lever!" I said. "But let's stick together."

"Where'd they go?" 'Kyan' shouted. "Bring up the cage!"

"Watch where they go," I told 'Nathan'. "Watch to see which one moves…"

We then saw that Bruce was near the lever, and we headed up that way. We had to hurry so that we could trap 'Kyan' and still fight the Proxy hunters.

"Look," 'Nathan' said. "There it is!"

I saw the red lever right by Bruce, and we scurried up the wall. We reached the lever just in time, and turned into rats so we could have extra strength to push it down.

"Dang it!" 'Kyan' yelled, and changed into Rocky. "Find those two and GET ME OUT!"

Before Bruce could lift the lever, I bit his hand.

"Rats!" he said, looking at us.

"Now!" I said to 'Nathan', and we turned into our old selves.

Between Slendy's tentacles and my powers, we took our each Proxy hunter, or so we thought.

"Look!" Slendy said, pointing to a dark figure by the lever.

The dark figure was Gus, and I tried to push him back, but it was too late. He lifts the lever, letting out Rocky. The fox then pounced on Slendy, and I tried to get the fox off him.

"I'm fine," Slendy said. "Get Gus, NOW!"

I did what he said and chased after the last Proxy hunter while Slendy and Rocky had a showdown.

"Come back here!" I called to Gus.

"NEVER!" he said, and I tried to throw fire at him. "Is that all you got?"

"No," I said, and started to throw snow that was on fire at him.

I didn't even know I could throw flaming snow, but it worked. Gus couldn't dodge the new power, and fell on the ground in a snowy flame.

"Now," I said. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

Gus tried to escape, and I used my magic to pull him back.

"Fine," I said. "If that's how you want to play it…"

I was then throwing a whole bunch of magic stuff at him, hoping to stop him. Eventually, the man ran to a small room, which I assumed used to be an office, and locked me out.

"Well," I said. "If you think you can just lock me out, you're wrong!"

Thank goodness the room had large windows on each side, and they were easy to break. As soon as I got in, I grabbed Gus by the collar of his shirt, trying to make him stop running. I knew it was going to take everything I got to make him stop all this madness.

"Ha," he said. "See ya later…"

He then ripped out of my grasp, and ran as fast as he could. I tried to catch up to him, but he was too fast. He then reached the large, open window at the end of the hallway, and jumped. He landed safely with only a couple of bruises, and ran into the forest.

"Well," I said. "At least he's gone."

That's when I heard the yelp from the fox, and I rushed over to fight the battle.

"You two," Rocky gasped as he fell to the floor. "You're not getting away with this!"

"Wanna bet?" I asked, and I threw the flaming snow at him.

"What?" Slendy asked. "I didn't know you could do that!"

"I just found out," I told him. "That's what I used on Gus."

"Well then," the fox said. "New powers for the special Proxy."

"It's blue Proxy!" the both of us said.

"Whatever," he said, and turned into 'Kyan'. "At least I know one thing that'll stop the both of you…"

He then rushed over to the office that I fought Gus in. I followed him, throwing the flaming fire at his head. I knew it was going to take a whole lot to stop him, but I still don't know why he ran to the office. I then realized when I saw the fox boy run towards the phone on the old desk._ Oh crap!_ I thought. _If he calls the police, we're both screwed!_

"No!" I said, but it was too late.

The boy already took the phone and ran like crazy. As he was running, he was dialing the police, and I tried to get him.

"Hello, police?" the boy said to the phone, trying to sound scared. "I'm in the old abandon factory, and there's something chasing after me!"

I notice whom he was calling the police on. If he convinces them that Slendy is a monster, then I would try to stop the police and let Rocky get away. I had to grab that phone, no matter what!

"STOP!" I shouted, trying to use magic to pull back 'Kyan', but it was no use.

He then hung up and threw the phone at me.

"Ha-ha!" he said. "They should be here any second!"

"Slendy!" I tried to shout at my partner. "Hide!"

He looked at me, understanding, and tried to hide, but the door to the factory was already being broke open.

"See ya later," 'Kyan' called to us, and jumped out the same window that Gus did.

"Oh crap!" I said over and over again.

"What do we do?" Slendy said.

"Disguise yourself!" I told him, but the police was already in the factory. "HIDE!"

"Freeze!" the police officer said. "Nobody move!"

I saw Slendy disappear, and I wanted to do the same, but they already locked eyes on me.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked. "I thought it was a boy that called."

"He was here," I said. "But he left…"

"He told us he was stuck," the man said. "Unless he unstuck himself."

"Uh," I said, thinking frantically. "Yes, he did."

"He said there was a beast or something here?" the officer asked. "Or was he lying.

"Lying," I said. "Prank call."

"That boy needs to be here then," the man told me. "Where did he run off to?"

"He went into the forest," I told him. "And he's hard to catch."

"Well," the man said. "What's that on your arm?"

I then realized he was looking at my mark, and all I could think was _tell him nothing, tell him NOTHING!_

"Uh," I said. "Its just sharpie…"

"It doesn't look like it," he said. "It's glowing…"

I then looked down at it and saw the light blue glow coming from it. I just sighed, and I frantically thought.

"Well," he said. "We're just going to have to take you somewhere to get that tested, unless you tell me why it's glowing."

_Oh, crap!_ I thought. _Think, think, THINK!_

"Uh," I said. "I used a special glowing powder."

He then asked if it was some type of glow in the dark powder, and all I said was "I don't know."

"Well," the man said. "Something tells me it is. Did you know that's illegal?"

"No," I said. "I never heard of it before."

"Well," the man said. "Whether you like it or not, you're going to pay for it."

"WHAT?" I said. "But-"

"Tell it to the judge," he said, taking the handcuffs out.

I panicked, not knowing what to do. I then saw the unexpected when Slendy came out from hiding.

"No," I whispered to him. "Don't do this…"

But it was too late. The police officer saw him, and screamed.

"WHAT IS THAT?" he asked.

"Um," I said. "Just a friend…"

All Slendy did was stand behind me and make static fly in the man's face.

"You're still getting cuffed," the man said.

"No," I said. "I didn't know!"

"Aw, dang it, Crystal," Slendy said. "I have nothing else to do…"

He then went and grabbed the officer with a tentacle and the man screamed. I just ran and hid behind one of the polls, until I heard a loud bang. I still hid, and I stood as still as I could.

"Where'd that girl go?" the man asked.

I waited for anything from Slendy, but nothing came. I hid until I heard the door close. I came out from my hiding spot, and tried to look for Slendy, but he wasn't there. I then wondered where he went, and I then matched up the bang with his missing.

"OMG," I said. "They took him!"

I ran to the hideout, hoping that I would find at least one person to help me. I then found Jeff and Smile, and told them everything.

"Slendy went to the slammer?" Jeff asked. "Because Rocky called the cops?"

I nodded, and Jeff just shook his head.

"It was either me or him," I said. "And we need to break him out!"

"Then you found the right person," he said. "Because I've broke out myself so many times…"

I then shot him a look, and he shrugged.

"I had to," he said. "They were going after me for something I did a long time ago…"

"So," I said. "What do we do first?"

"That's easy," Jeff said. "First thing's first, we have to get all my old buddies…"

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

_Breakout!_

I didn't question Jeff for saying this, and I just went along with him. I knew that we were going to need help, but why the help of his old school buddies? Aren't they going to be in more danger if they do this? It only took a little bit to find them, and we explained everything.

"Oh," L.J. said. "So we need to break him out?"

"He did nothing wrong," I said. "He was only protecting me."

"But he did wrong a long time ago," Ben said.

"Well," I said back. "That was a long time ago, and as long as he stopped, he should be fine!"

"Did the officer even recognize him?" Appy asked.

"Uh, no," I said. "All he did was scream as if he came face to face with death."

"He would've if he met him a long time ago," Jeff said. "And besides, we were only after kids…"

"That paints a nice image," I sarcastically told him. "You guys going after little kids…"

I shuttered at the thought. That was probably all the game that was in the one closet at the mansion.

"Yeah," Jeff said. "We only did it so the apocalypse wouldn't happen, so we had a reason to."

"Oh, right," I said, remembering the dream Jeff had.

"So," Ben asked. "How are we going to do this?"

We then planned a whole strategy to get him out. I knew it was going to take a whole bunch of tools and knowledge to do this. Once we knew what to do, we physically went to prank someone in broad daylight. We took spray-paint and eggs and we did this to my own house. I know it sounds crazy, but I didn't want to get in _real_ trouble. The police then caught us, and it was the same man as before.

"Well," he said. "I finally found you! Your odd friend is doing fine. We have him chained up real nicely. Now, I guess we'll throw you two in with him, huh?"

"Now!" I whispered to Jeff.

Jeff then showed his face, all cut and fresh with 'blood' (which was actually ketchup) and the man dropped us both. We didn't run, since this was art of our plan, and he grabbed us again and threw us in the back of his truck.

"Okay," Jeff whispered to me. "I have the tracker with us. The others will come to break us out, since we'll be with Slendy. You got it?"

"Yep," I said. "But how do we explain this to him?"

"Leave it to me," he said. "I know how to explain this all. He's going to be confused at first, but I'll catch him up."

It didn't take long to be thrown into a cell and wait to be chained. I felt weird, being in there and knowing I didn't do anything, but was about to do one of the greatest breakouts of all time. I just stayed by Jeff, since now he's the only guy I could trust, and then the officer came back with a pile of chains. I knew that Jeff still had the knife in his pocket, and it was one of his sharpest and barely used, so it would cut through these chains well. When we got all chained up, we were thrown in another room. It was all dusty and dark, and I then saw Slendy.

"What the-" he began to say, but Jeff explained everything.

"The guys should be here any minute now…" I said. "Pass me the knife, Jeff."

He did so, and I cut myself free just enough so that I could get my arm free. I then took the knife and threw it at the camera, and making it come back with my powers. I did this to all the cameras that were there, and I cut the rest of the chains.

"Okay guys," I said. "Just hold still and let me get us all out of these dang chains!"

It didn't take long before we were all out and the others came from out of the wall with a chainsaw.

"A chainsaw," I asked. "Really?"

"Nothing else worked," Appy said. "NOW LET'S GO!"  
We scrambled through the small tunnel, and out to the outside of the building.

"Okay, guys," I said. "Disguise yourselves. We're going to have to be hidden. I'll go invisible."

We all did so, and I stayed close to the guys. Only the one officer questioned us, and we said we were just visiting. They then let us out, and we ran strait to the forest.

"Holy crud, guys!" I said. "Best breakout ever!"

"Now let's never get caught again!" 'Nathan' said, and we laughed.

We then chilled a bit with the rest of the group and told them about our breakout.

"What the heck guys!" Gemm said. "I could've helped!"

"You would still be stuck," I said. "Because we needed our powers to break out."

"Oh," she said. "I wish I had powers…"

"Hey," I said. "I almost got thrown in jail since they thought I used something illegal on my mark!"

"And this is all because of 'Kyan'?" Zack asked.

"Yep," 'Nathan' said. "The guy's a jerk."

"I hate jerks," Katy said.

"Yeah," Kat said to her twin. "They suck!"

"So true," Fern said. "So, so true!"

"Yeah," Zack said. "I especially hate the ones that force people to play seven minutes in heaven!"

I laughed, and then said, "You're so right! I hate that game!"

"What's seven minutes in heaven?" Jeff asked.

"The game that Crystal would hate being stuck with 'Nathan'," Gemm said, laughing.

"Shut up!" I said.

"So, what is it?" Appy asked.

"Well," Zack said. "It's when the guys put something small in a hat. One girl picks something out with their eyes closed. Once they pick that item, they find out who put it in. Then, with that guy, they get themselves locked in a closet and make out!"

"Ew," Kat said. "Yeah, no way!"

"I wouldn't do it for all the money in the world!" I said.

"I don't know," Gemm said, looking at Jeff. "Depends on who I'm with…"

"What if you were stuck with 'Nathan'," I whispered to her. "Then how would you feel?"

"I would trade spots with you," she told me, and my face began to blush.

"Stop it!" I whispered to her. "I told you-"

"Yeah, yeah," she said. "Just friends. 'Right'."

"Shut it!" I said. "It's just, um…"

"I KNEW IT!" she shouted at me.

"No, I don't!" I said. "I'm trying not to repeat myself!"

"Sure you are," she said with a sarcastic voice. "And me and Jeff are just two strangers-"

"I don't want to hear it," I said. "This is not a debate!"

"It is between me and Jeff," she said. "We made a bet, and I'm not going to lose it!"

"You made a bet!" I asked. "WHY?"  
"Because," she said. "I see you with him a lot, and I know when you first saw him, you kept seeing him every day. Most people would've run away, but you… you didn't care. I then thought you-"

"No," I said. "It's not like that."

"Are you sure?' she asked. "Because if I were you and Jeff was 'Nathan', we would've been more than friends."

"I'm sure," I said, but the truth was, I wasn't so sure.

I knew that we were good friends, but can it go there? I then erased my thought out of my mind and tried to enjoy the meeting with my friends. I still had a bit of blush to my face when Gemm went to talk to Jeff, so I tried to keep out of 'Nathan's' sight, so he doesn't ask a whole bunch of questions again.

"Hey guys," Jeff said. "Us Creepy pastas are heading us to the mansion. C'mon Crystal, you're coming, too!"

"Okay," I said, and I rushed up right next to 'Nathan', now that the blush was off my face. "So," I said. "What's this for?"

"We just wanna chill without the others," Jeff said. "And now that your one of us, you belong we us."

_One of them?_ I thought. _I'm one of them? That mean's I'm a Creepy pasta! But I didn't kill anyone. Unless… Does that mean that Creepy pastas also include special Proxies?_

I asked the same questions to Jeff, and he nodded.

"You got the idea," he said. "But to be a true Creepy pasta, you can do something to someone who's already dead."

"Is this what we're doing?" I asked, and they nodded. "But this is weird!"

"Just pretend it's a giant doll," 'Nathan' said. "But, this is how you become one, so unless you-"

"I'll do it," I said. "I'll just do it."

"Cool," Ben said. "Sorry you have to do this to be one, but it's nothing we can do…"

As soon as we got to the mansion, they brought out a dead body.

"Ew," I said. "This smells bad…"

"Yeah," L.J. said. "It's been in there for a while. So just, do what you want!"

I'm just glad I didn't have to kill anything, but cutting into it wasn't pretty, but wasn't bad, either. I drew with the knife a big Proxy symbol on the body, then a whole bunch of designs. It was like doing bloody art. When I was done, it looked pretty cool.

"Oh, cool!" 'Nathan' said. "Look's like she's now a Creepy pasta!"

"Can I do another?" I asked, and they dragged out one by one, and all of them I did the same.

_What am I doing?_ My head said. _This is weird, but doesn't feel it. Was I really meant to be one? It's kid of like body art…_

"Oh, wow," Jeff said when he walked in to the dead bodies. "This is like art. This is so cool!"

I smiled, and finished the last body. The cuts that looked like flowers and roses going up each arm and leg were pretty cool, but the uncool thing was the whole place smelled badly. We then dragged each body outside and buried them, and I then got a text.

"It's from Gemm," I said.

_Hey gurl! It's getting pretty creepy around here. There's people disappearing and we can't find them! Help!_

I showed the message to the rest, and 'Nathan' just looked at me.

"Guess we have to go down and help them…" he said.

"Yep," I said, and then another text came.

_Come quick! I'm the last one jfweoalbgrklsgbrjkes._

"What the-" I began to say.

"That's not good," Jeff said. "We have to go, NOW!"

We ran so fast that we got there in seconds. The place was left empty, and there was blood everywhere. I was in total shock as I saw the message on the wall written in blood.

"_You're Next_"

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

_The Crazy Fox_

I gasped, scared at the message. I knew nothing good was going to come from this. I tried hard not to scream as I read the message over and over again. I then saw Gemm's phone on the ground, and I picked it up. She tried to send a message that had a picture, and I viewed it.

"Come look at this," I said, my hands shaking.

"Okay," 'Nathan' said. "This is not good at all…"

The picture had Rocky on it, but he was covered in blood. His eyes were black and red, and I saw Gemm's hand in the picture, which had bite marks all over it. I was in total shock, not knowing how dangerous Rocky really was. All I could do was let my jaw drop and stare at the picture. The fox was snarling as well, showing his razor sharp teeth. I knew that we had to do something, and fast.

"I found a blood trail," Ben said, and I looked away from the picture.

I saw the trail of bloody mess dragging out through the entrance. We then began to follow the trial, not knowing what else to do.

"What now?" I asked when the trial came to a dead end.

I saw 'Nathan' start to look up in the trees. I did so, and found all m friends, almost dead from blood loss, and Gemm struggling to get away from Rocky, who was obviously going crazy.

"Put her down!" I screamed.

The fox snarled at me, and showed me his teeth. I was so scared that I was trembling.

"Okay," 'Nathan' said. "We have to get the bodies. Jeff, you try and get Gemm. The rest of you help me with this."

He then turned back to his regular self so he could grab them easier and hand them down to us. Thanks goodness they were still breathing. We then tried to rush them to safety, but I felt something lung towards me. I turned around to see the fox, and Jeff came up to it and pulled it back.

"GO!" he told me, and I nodded.

I ran with the rest, carrying the twins, and we got to safety.

"What about Gemm?" I asked.

"I'm sure Jeff will get her," Slendy said. "We just need to get these guys well…"

I grabbed the kit and wrapped them up. I just pleaded that no one would die, and that everything would be fine.

"Okay," I said. "That should do it…"

"Now, we just wait," Ben said. "We can't go back, otherwise it's going to be worse.

"We have to do something!" I said. "We can't just stay here!"

"We have to," Appy said. "Otherwise you're going to be killed."

I then just agreed to. I didn't ant to die, and Jeff can't die, since he's one of the Creepy pastas, and he loves Gemm.

"There's one thing I don't get, though," I said. "If I became a Creepy pasta, doesn't that mean I'm immortal?"

"No," L.J. said. "You have to kill someone to be stuck on an age and can never die."

"Oh," I said. "But I don't want to kill anyone."

"Exactly," Slendy said. "That's why just being one is better that being immortal."

"I guess you're right," I said. "Plus, I don't want to see everyone I know die around me and never see them again…"

"True," Ben said. "But you'll still have us."

I smiled, glad that I have such great friends. I don't care it their past selves were psychopaths, as long as they're always by my side, I don't care if they killed any of my friends for whatever reason (And I know they would have to have a really good reason to).

"Hey guys," Jeff said, carrying Gemm in the cave. "I'm back, but I don't know about her…"

I could just see the sadness in his eyes. I patched her up good and just waited for any of them to wake up, but none of them did. We eventually got the parents to take them to the hospital, and I just hoped none of them were dead, or going to die.

"So," I asked 'Greg'. "Is Rocky back to normal?"

"No," he said. "If anything, none of us is safe."

"Great," 'Luke' said. "So what now?"

"Wait," I said. "Should you just become tiny and in your disguises and I'll just keep you at my house?"

"Or us with you," 'John' said. "Since now you're a Creepy pasta…"

"I can!" I said, and thought small thoughts. "Awesome!"

I started to hop around and I climbed up on 'Nathan's' shoulder.

"I feel the same when I'm tiny," 'Nathan' said. "It's like a major sugar rush."  
I then realized all the energy I had now, and I smiled.

"It's fun!" I squeaked. "I can hide now!"

I then hopped off and changed back.

"So, seriously, what should we do?" I asked.

"Probably your idea," 'Fred' said, and they all got tiny.

I put each one on my head except for Slendy, who went on my shoulder. I wanted him there so I felt his comfort. I don't know why I felt comfort when I'm around him, but it felt nice and good. When we reached my house, I set them all on my bed and just hoped that they would stay there. I then just watch them chat and mess around with the things I had, and then I watch Slendy and Jeff hit each other with unsharpened pencils (Thank goodness they were unsharpened). I smiled and I saw the two just bat each other around with the sticks, and watch Slendy switch from his hands to his tentacles.

"Hey," Jeff squeaked. "No fair!"

"It's fair," Slendy said. "It's still like using hands."

"No it's not!" Jeff said, and ran over and started having a tiny fight with Slendy that involved hand slapping. I laughed, and kept having fun with them until it was bedtime. I had Slendy sleep in the pocket again, since he'll stay tiny this time. I don't know why, but it's like I couldn't be happy without these guys, whether they were big or small. I then dozed off, and I smiled. The dreams were fun, with everything and us all just chilling out. When I woke up, I tapped Slendy a bit.

"Wake up, sleepy head," I whispered to him.  
"Huh?" he said. "Oh, sure wake me up but not the rest!"

"SH!" I said. "I wanna do something quick."

"What?" he asked.

"I want to run to the hideout quick to grab the chip bags," I said. "We never eat them and I need a place to put them."

"Oh," he squeaked. "And you want to put them in the mansion, right?"

"You're the guy who owns the place," I said. "And with Rocky around…"

"Okay," he said in his high pitch voice. "Just let me wake up…"

"It's gonna be a while before I'm ready," I said. "So you'll have plenty of time."

It took me a few minutes to do so, and when I was fully dressed, we headed out to the hideout.

"I hope my friends don't mind," I said. "But we do need to get rid of these…"

I grabbed the bags and headed out to the mansion. Slendy told me where to put them, and I threw the bags in the one closet.

"Thank goodness that's done," I said, and went to go out the door, when I heard something.

"Okay," Slendy said. "So it wasn't just me that heard that."

"No," I said. "I think it's Rocky. Quick, change back!"

It didn't take long for him to get full size. I heard the sound again, and it sounded like laughter. I then heard something on the roof, like the sound of scratching. I looked at Slendy, and asked what to do.

"I don't know," he slowly said. "But I know we can't leave until he's gone…"

"Or can we?" I thought. "If we just burst out the door."

I then heard a loud thud that landed right outside the door.

"Never mind, then," I said. "Scratch that. What now?"

"Um," he said. "At least try to battle him off?"  
That's when the door opened and the fox came in. He looked the same as yesterday, and was indeed crazy. I just stood there in shock as the thing came closer.

"Oh, so look who I found…" I said in a really deep voice. "Oh, goodie, a meal for me…"

I screeched and threw the flaming snow at him, but it was no use.

"You think that'll stop me?" he said. "Ha! I know what will really stop you…"

He then grabbed me, and ran.

"CRYSTAL!" I heard Slendy yell, and he started to run after me.

I was hitting the fox as he ran, beating him until I gave up. I then saw the giant electric tower, and he began to climb with me in his paws.

"Let go of me!" I screamed. "HELP!"

When we reached the top, I saw Slendy just standing there, in total shock.

"I know you hated this thing since the moment you saw it," the fox said. "You hated the noises it makes, the shock it gives when only you touched it. Yeah, I know, what are you going to do?"

The fox then hold me over the tower.

"What are you doing?" I screamed at the fox. "Stop this!"

I grabbed on to the tower, but it shocked me to the point where I thought it could kill me. I then screamed for dear life and hung on to the fox.

"What are you doing?" the fox said.

"Bye, bye!" I said, and grabbed the fox to where I flipped him over my back so that I could grab the landing and the fox fell to the ground. Though he can't die, he was still going to hurt. I smiled at I began to climb down. I saw the others started to come for us.

"What the heck!" Jeff said. "You left us in the house and we found you over the side of the electric tower!"

"Oh," I said. "Sorry. I didn't expect for Rocky to come out of nowhere."

"Anyway," he continued. "Are you fine?"

"Yep," I said. "The only one in pain is Rocky."

The fox was a lump at the bottom of a tower. He must've broken a couple of bones and was obviously bloody. _Man,_ I thought. _It seems every time I'm with these guys there's always blood. Must be a Creepy pasta thing…_

"You okay?" Slendy asked me.

"Besides startled," I said. "I'm fine. And where were you?"  
"Oh," he said. "That tower's my only weakness. I can't take electric shocks."

"Huh," I said. "Well, thank goodness I didn't end up like Rocky over there."

The fox then lifted it's head my the sound of it's name.

"What happened?" he asked, rubbing his head with one paw. "The last thing I remember was coming out of my den and this thing hit me…"

"You went crazy," I said. "You were killing my friends!"

"Oh," the fox said. "That explains all the blood…"

At least he was back to normal, but he was still dangerous. I then felt some thought hit me. _Maybe he isn't dangerous. Maybe he just lost memory when we first met him. That explains everything._

"Who are you?" Rocky asked me. "The only one I recognize is my buddy Jeff."

"Huh?" Jeff said. "But I got rid of you after you were attacking my dog!"

I then told them my thought, and they all agreed.

"That explains everything," L.J. said. "But still, what made you go crazy?"

"I saw some shadow thing," the fox told us. "I think it was a man…"

The fox then described a man that I knew was a Proxy hunter. Those men made the fox their leader or pet, and now they're coming after us.

"Anyway," he continued. "I was hit with some type of gun. It must've made me go crazy, because I feel guilty for some reason."

We then explained everything that happened while his mind was blank. The fox then stared at us, not believing what he heard.

"I'm so sorry guys," he said.

"It's not your fault," I spoke, using a calm voice.

I then went to help the fox up and I dragged him back to the hideout. I bandaged the damaged creature up and let him rest.

"Well," I said. "That explains all that has to do with Rocky, but we still need to stop those Proxy hunters. I just hope that we can stop them before they knock someone else out."

"Same," Slendy said. "Though it'd be hard to see one of us get knocked out."

"I just want them to be chained up like we did," Jeff said. "So that they'd have more trouble breaking out."

"Yeah," Ben spoke. "That would be nice…"

The rest of the day I went to visit my friends at the hospital so that I could cheer them up. After telling them everything that happened, they smiled, knowing that the fox was finally on our side. After retelling the story over and over again, I realized that now we have an advantage. I left the hospital three hours later and went home. I was a bit sad that pretty much all my friends were injured, but that doesn't mean that I can't chill with the others. With all the Creepy pastas in disguises, we were doing awesome things. Okay, maybe cleaning up the hideout wasn't fun, but it needed to be done. We then just did cart racing again and then chilled in the hideout. After that, I just went home and went to bed. It took a couple of weeks until my other friends were out and well.

"Glad to have you guys back," I said.

"We're glad to be back," Gemm told me. "Now that we know what had really happened, I'm glad 'Kyan's' on our side!"

The fox boy was over with 'Nathan' and 'Greg', chatting like chipmunks.

"So," she then said. "I heard you're now a Creepy pasta…"

"Yep," I proudly said. "And you should've seen what I did to those bodies. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I mean, besides the smell, it wasn't gross at all!"

"Maybe you were born to be one," she said. "And you were meant to fulfill the stupid dream Jeff had."

"Maybe," I said with a whisper. "Maybe…"

That night I went home with that thought in my mind. _What if I was really meant to be one? Was this all really a big prophecy? _The thought didn't really haunt me, but loomed around in my head like a lost ghost at a cemetery. That night I though about what Jeff truly saw in his dream, and if it really did make sense. If I really was born to be the blue Proxy, then could it mean more than what I think it means? That's when the thought started to haunt me. It made me think of so much more than what I needed to think, and I worried about if I could even attempt to sleep at this point. _We're just friends. Nothing more… Or, are we?_ The thought made me a bit dizzy, so I forced myself to go to sleep with that horrid thought in my head. If it really did mean what I think it meant, then we would've been more than friends a long, long time ago. I was sure of it.

The next day I woke up and got ready to go school shopping with my gal friends. I call them 'gal friends' now since it sounds more friend-like rather than… well… you get what I mean. We met up by the mall so that we could grab supplies first, then work on clothing.

"Wow," I said. "I felt like it was just yesterday that we got off the plane, and that was in July! It's now already the beginning of August! This summer went fast!"

"I know!" Katy exclaimed. "I felt like we just got out of school!"

"Hey," Kat said. "At least we're doing the one thing us gal's love! SHOPPING!"

We all giggled as we headed towards one store to by some backpacks and some simple binders and stuff like that. We started to cruise around until we each got what we wanted, and headed until Gemm stopped us.

"No way!" Gemm said. "They opened it!"

"Opened what?" I asked.

"The new clothing store!" Emma said. "That was meant for gals our age!"

We all squealed as we headed for the new store. But, something felt _off_. I felt like someone was _watching_ us, I told the others and they agreed.

"You know," Gemm slowly said. "I feel the same way."

We then looked behind us to the entrance of the store, and the sight just creped me out.

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

_Okay, Weird!_

"Um," I said. "Is it just me, or are the clerks literally staring at us?"

"I think this isn't the store for us," Sunni whispered, and we immediately walked out.

"Okay," I said. "That was weird…."

"Um, Crystal," Gemm asked. "I think you have a little something on your cheek…"

She then rubbed something red off it with her thumb, and it oozed out more all over my face.

"What is that?" Sarah asked.

"I think you're bleeding, Crystal!" Gemm screamed. "That explains the clerks looking at us!"

"Why are my cheeks bleeding?" I asked, and kept wiping them off.

"I think you scrapped yourself in the last store," Emma told me. "With all those rulers…"

"Oh, yeah," I said, chuckling. "Can someone get me something to wipe this off?"  
I just grabbed a bunch of napkins and eventually it stopped. We then continued shopping until I noticed something very odd.

"Um," I said, pointing at the ground floor. "Is that 'Luke' and 'John'?"

"It is!" both Sarah and Emma screamed.

The two of them rushed down, and the rest of us continued shopping. We finally saw the girls by the new store, and they were giggling.

"What were they doing here?" I asked.

"All the guys decided to prank people around here," Emma told us, and started to laugh. "And we helped them with the fake money trick!"

They were balling their eyes out from laughing so hard and I just stared at them.  
"Oh," I said. "So they do it without me? I guess it's a guy thing then…"

"They wished they could've done it with you," Sarah said. "But they were afraid they would get caught and the whole jail thing again…"

"Oh, right," I said, starting to remember the breakout. "So, where are they now?"

"Um," Sarah and Emma both thought. "We left them at that one chocolate store, so probably around there."

"Okay!" I said, and dragged Gemm with me to a spot where we can chat without the rest of the girls hearing. "Alright, I know you probably want to catch up with 'Greg', right?"

"Yes!" she said, sounding desperate. "You know me so well!"

"Then let's catch up with them!" I said. "Depending on where they are, we should be able to, you know, at least see them!"

"True," Gemm thought. "And then we could just hang out together."

"Yeah!" I said. "And at least I have sleeves on, so my mark won't be noticeable."

We then broke off with the others and headed down to the elevator. I knew the chocolate shop was close by, and I wanted to get there fast so that we can catch up. We were dead on time once we got out of the elevator, for we saw the guys right away. They spotted us too, and we hooked up and started to hang out.

"So," I said once we headed by another store. "Out of all the places to prank, you chose the only place that was full with cops!"

"Well," 'Nathan' said. "It's also the only place that's packed with people, and that everyone will see us."

"And have a greater chance of getting caught!" I said. "What are you thinking?"  
"I dunno," 'Luke' said. "But it's fun!"

At that point we were already back with the other girls, and we went in a big group. We all laughed and had a good time, but I could never unseen the face on Zack. He looked over at me, and it looked like he was upset. I guess he's just in a bad mood, and I pretended not to see it. Finally, it was Katy that came over to cheer him up, and Kat started to chill with Jack. I then realized that it was happening again, but this time between my original friends. I then whispered to 'Nathan' what was going on, and he silently chuckled.

"I guess they are ladies men," I said to him.  
"Yeah," he said back. "If being depress works, then I must be doing something wrong…"

I then gave him a light, playful shove, and I saw that Gemm was looking at me with the usual I-know-what's-happening look. I shot her an oh-no-you-don't look and she just rolled her eyes and looked back at 'Greg'.

"They're still at it, huh?" 'Nathan' asked me.

"All for a stupid bet," I answered back.

"Exactly," he said. "And it's us who decide what we want to do."

I smiled, knowing he's right. _This guy really knows how to cheer me up_ I thought. _And he's good at it, too!_

"Hey," I said. "Wanna break off and do our own thing?"

"Yeah," he said. "And it looks like Gemm and 'Greg' already did."

That's when we decided to split and we started to go to some other cool stores that were for **everyone**. We then had a ball at each one until we decided to go hit the next. It felt nice to be with just him and no one else, because then we can do what we like without Gemm or 'Greg' looking over their shoulder and trying to prove they were right. It got annoying at some times, and at some points I almost crack and go crazy on them, and they think _I'm_ the insane one! When we finally headed out, he asked if we should regroup.

"Nah," I said. "Unless you wanna get in a debate with 'Greg' and Gemm again."

"Good point," he said, and we just walked back to the hideout. I was so glad to be all cozied up in the cave that I didn't want to move from where I was. When the other came in, I thought that Gemm was going to faint.

"Maybe being right next to each other wasn't such a great idea," 'Nathan' said, for we were literally _right_ next to each other.

"Uh, ya think?" I exclaimed.

"And you guys said you were just friends," Gemm laughed. "Since when do friends cozy up next to each other?"  
"Um, all the time?" I answered her. "C'mon Gemm! We did it two winters ago."

She then realized I was right and she put a blank expression on her face. She then just grabbed 'Greg; and walked out, knowing that I pissed her off.

"Maybe I should-" I started to say.

"Maybe **we** should." 'Nathan' said. "I mean, it's on both of us, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I said. "You're right. Let's head out before they get mad at us again."

We then caught up with the two, and while 'Nathan' talked with 'Greg', I had a nice chat with Gemm.

"Listen," I said. "You could be right or wrong. I don't really care what happened. Just stop trying to run our lives!"

"Okay," she finally said after talking to her for about twenty minutes. "But what if I happen to be right? I just want you to know my thoughts."

"Keep those ones to yourself," I said. "It's not worth the stupid bet. Trust me."

"Yeah," she said. "You're right. I shouldn't be doing this. I've been a bad friend, haven't I?"

"You're not a bad friend," I told her. "You just need to think twice."

"I do need to do that more often," she said. "And besides, the bet was only for a dollar."

"And how many dollars do you have?"

"A lot," she said, and we smiled.

Seems like 'Greg' also agreed to this, and they just dropped the bet. I smiled at 'Nathan', who also had a grin on his face.

"So," I said. "Now that that's settled…"

We headed inside and began talking with the rest when we all heard something. We then saw 'Kyan' come out from the bushes with Sunni in his arms.

"What happened?" I asked, seeing all the darts in his body.

"The Proxy hunters," he warned us. "They know. They know what happened. You got to run, Crystal!"

"What?" I asked.

"We don't have time," the fox boy said. "You and 'Nathan' have got to run, NOW!"

I looked at him with confusion until I saw and heard the dart barely miss my shoulder and hid the rock wall in front of me. 'Nathan' then grabbed me by the arm and we ran for our lives. I was about to scream, but he held a hand to my mouth.

"Are you trying to get us caught!" he said. "Stay quiet!"

We ran until we climbed up a tree and turned invisible. I was scared so much that I felt like my whole body was shaking.

"Okay," the man said, and he clearly wasn't Bruce or Gus. "Either you're going to come to me, or I'm going to use this…"

He held up his gun, and began to shoot it everywhere. We ducked, hoping not to get hit, and once the shooting stopped, I felt like it wasn't over.

"If that didn't work…" the man said, and then took out a small grenade-looking thing.

"A grenade?" I whispered, in total shock.

The man dropped it hard, and smoke began to fly around. It then made both 'Nathan' and me visible, and we ran like crazy.

"Come back here, you kids!" the man yelled, chasing after us.

"We're dead!" I whispered. "So, so dead!"

"Not yet," 'Nathan' said, and he changed into his tiny self. "Now, turn invisible again, but this time do it right in front of him!"

After I shoved tiny Slendy into my pocket, I did what he said and disappeared right in front of the mans face. I then grabbed the grenades and threw them in the distance, and ran strait for the mansion.

"Now, don't stop till ya get there!" Slendy said, and I ran so fast that I thought I was going light speed. When we finally reached the house, I locked everything I could and hid in the basement. After Slendy changed back into 'Nathan', I braced myself for the worse to come. I then saw him grasping his arm, and I realized he's been hit.

"Oh my gosh!" I said. "This is not good!"

"I'm fine," he said, but he was clearly in pain.

"We need to get that out!" I said, but I realized that the Proxy hunter was already in the house.

If I pulled it out now, his screaming would give us away. But I couldn't just leave it in him. Who knows what types of darts those are!

"Okay," I said. "First, we need to just leave it as it is. We can't get caught now! You can't die, but the way he used those grenades, I'm not sure if you'll be fine with that!"

"I'm sure I'm fine," he said. "Just a little sting, that's all…"

I then heard the doorknob jiggle and I knew it was bad news. We headed out the small window that lead us to the backyard, and we locked the window close. We then ran until we reached my house and I hid him in my room.

"This is all I can do," I said. "At least my mother is home and won't be hurt."

"Okay," he said. "Now can we pull this out of me?"

"Let's get some pain medicine in you first," I told him. "So that it won't hurt as bad."

"Whatever we got to do," he said, so determined to get it out. "As long as it doesn't poison me or something worse than that!"

After I got the medicine in him, I yanked it out. He gritted his teeth together in pain, trying not to yell.

"Okay," I said, holding the dart in my hand. "It's out."

"That's like the worse thing I ever had in my arm," he told me. "Besides that thorn bush last year…"

"That had to hurt," I told him.

"Yeah," he said. "One of the worst mistakes I ever made."

We then waited out the hunter until I made 'Nathan' switch back into tiny Slendy so that he could hide better.

"I better turn tiny, too." I said. "I'll warn my mother before I do, though."  
"Good point," he squeaked, and I went to tell my mother.

As soon as she let me, I went back into the room and shrunk down.

"Holy crap!" I said. "My room looks awesome when I'm tiny!"

"C'mon," Slendy said. "We'd better get up on the desk so that nothing happened."

"I'll help with that," Zimmy said, walking into the room.

"Zimmy!" I said. "Thank goodness you're here!"

"Proxy hunters again?" he asked.

"Yep," Slendy said. "Not fun having a dart in your arm."

"I see that on the desk over there," the cat said, and picked us both up and placed us on the desk. "Maybe you can read what it says."

We both tried reading it, but it was in a whole bunch of languages other than English.

"I can't understand it," I said. "It has almost every language but English."

"Let's just hope it's not poison," Zimmy wished. "Otherwise that would be a big problem."

I tried to block out that thought in my head. Okay, I knew Slendy wasn't going to die, but being poison is still bad. I then had Zimmy throw out the dart and we hid in my old dollhouse for safety.

"So," I eventually said. "How long do we have to hide?"  
"I don't know," Slendy said. "Hopefully not long."

I then ran to the top of the house to where the bed was. I shifted through the drawers until I found a small box and drug it down. Good thing I made a homemade elevator for it, with the help of my friends of course. It didn't take long for it to come down and for me to drag the box in.

"Here's where we'll hide if they come in," I said, opening to box.

"We're going to hide in a box?" he asked. "Are you sure there's no better place to hide?"

"I don't know," I said. "Everything up there is all open and have no doors or anything. The stuff that does have doors is really tiny."

"Great," he said, sarcastically. "Well, it'll have to do."

We just waited in the tiny house until I heard a knock at the door. Zimmy told us to hide, and I opened the box right away. Good thing it was a big box, so it had a lot of room for the both of us. It was about twenty minutes before the box moved slightly and a giant black paw opened it up.

"They're gone," Zimmy said as he got us out. "They were looking for the both of you when they found the dart in the trash. They then looked around and left, taking the dart with them. I hid in the closet, and they never found me."

"Are we safe now?" I asked.

"I think we are," Slendy said, his voice all squeaky from being so small. "But we still should hide just in case."

That night I slept in the dollhouse in one of the beds, and tried to sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about what that dart was or what it would do to him. I tried hard not to think about it, but the thought was kind of scary. He could be hurt or get really sick, and that's bad. It took about an hour before I finally fell into a deep sleep. I dreamed about the forest and both our hideouts, and the fun times we had before these hunters came into the problem. I smiled, and then realized something. Ever since these hunters came, the more I thought about what being the blue Proxy really meant. I started to put pieces together, but all I could think of was protection, and I already knew that. But just the thought of it left a nice feeling, and I knew we had each other's backs. But the thing that made me think in the wrong direction is the dream Jeff had. It was Zimmy that said the lines of Slendy when Jeff had the dream. _What was it again? It was something about hurting me? Oh, right, it was 'Don't you dare hurt my Crystal' or something like that. _Then a chilling thought came into my head. I thought about the line over and over again, and then it hit me. In the dream, he said "Don't you dare hurt _**MY**_ Crystal." I then woke up instantly, and I realized that being the blue Proxy must mean a whole lot more than I thought it did. I started to breath heavily, and I forced myself to go back to sleep. The thought haunted me, and if I was right, then could I really… _No,_ I told myself. _Just wait and see… It'll all make sense soon._

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

_Epic Halloween_

The next day I got back to my normal self and got 'Nathan' out of the house before it felt really weird. I wanted to just forget about the thought I had last night, but I knew I had to tell someone.

"I know I'm going to kill myself for doing this," I said aloud, but in a whisper so no one could hear me.

I went to the hideout to meet with Gemm, and I took her off to the side.

"What?" she said. "Worried about those hunters?"

I then told her what I realized, and her eyes widen.

"OMG," she whispered to me. "You're right, the dream did say that. Then, are my thoughts true?"

"I don't know," I said, almost quivering. "I'm just going let things happen."

"Can I tell Jeff," she asked.

"Tell NO ONE!" I told her. "No one must hear of this. Understand?"  
She nodded, and we headed back to the group. The hideout was always packed when the whole group's there, but it's not too bad. I'm surprised that 'Kyan' and Sunni got together now, and it feels really weird, but I tell myself that it's not so bad. After the twins found their guys in the group, which came out to be Kat and Jack and Katy with Matt. The only guys' left from the original group was Zack and Cody, and it seems that every time Zack looks at me, he seems sad. I feel bad for him sometimes, but I don't know if he's really the guy for me. I just stick with the other guys, who always want to be pranking or fooling around, and to be honest; I'm actually with them. I enjoy having everyone at the hideout for chats, but sometimes it just gets rowdy. I mean, if you don't think that yelling, loud noises, and getting into trouble is not rowdy, then I don't know what you even think is normal.

"Hey, guys," Gemm called. "When is school starting again?"

"Next week!" Katy said, and we all went crazy.

"Uh," Kat said. "I'm not ready to go back!"

"Me neither!" Jack said. "I don't want to be piled with work again."

"Well then," Fern said. "Then let's make sure this week is the best week yet!"

"Or second best," I said. "Because nothing can beat California."

"Good point," Gemm spoke. "That was, like, the best thing ever."

"I meant normal week," Fern said.

"Oh," both Gemm and I spoke simultaneously.

Well, let's just say the week went really fast. I was enjoying every minute of it, and then Gemm, 'Greg' and 'Nathan' come up to me on Friday.

"What?" I asked.

I then see them all grab out a surfboard, and Gemm said, "We were heading up to go surfing by the boardwalk. Want to come?"

"Heck yes!" I said, and ran home to grab mine.

My board was a pretty teal color with Hawaiian flowers all over it. I had it ever since I was five, and I went surfing by the boardwalk every summer. Since living near one of New Jersey's less popular boardwalks, the beach was always empty, even in the summer. I enjoy surfing the waves on this beach because this beach always has nice waves. We all headed up and got our swimsuits on.

"Guys," I said. "I haven't been up here for a while, so I'm glad to be back."

"Me too," Gemm said. "Though I don't surf up here, I love the shops and just swimming in the ocean. I used to come up here to read books as well."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" 'Nathan' said. "LET'S SURF!"

We all hopped in the water and went surfing for a couple of hours. It was nice to be back in the water and soaring on the waves. After I went home and left the group, I got showered off and just chilled at home.

"So," Zimmy asked. "How was your day?"

"You sound like one of those parents," I said.

"I know," the cat meowed. "What do you think I was trying to sound like? A bird?"  
I laughed and told him about the day.

"Surfing huh?" he asked. "That must've been fun."

"School's coming closer than I wanted it to," I said. "And before I know it, it'll be Halloween again!"

"Which means that'll be a full year with us," the cat said.

"OMG," I exclaimed. "You're right! I never even got a chance to realize that!"

"I can't believe it either," he said. "Another year gone by so fast."

I smiled as I just sat on the couch and pet the little cat. I knew that the weekend was going to go fast, and that I would have to go back to school and deal with all new teachers. Most of the teachers are nice, but the ones this year are going to be hard to be nice to. They were some of the strictest teachers I will ever meet. I knew it was going to be an interesting year, and I could 'hardly wait' for it to start.

That Monday morning, I joined Gemm outside my house as we walked down to school to start a brand new year. When we got in, we met all our new teachers and went over all the rules and procedures and things like that. The whole day was boring and slow, and I just couldn't wait for it to be over. When we finally got out, I joined up with Gemm.

"OMG," I said once I saw her. "That was one of the most boring first day of school since Kindergarten!"

"Uh, yeah!" she said back. "I feel like this year is going to be 'very' interesting."

We then met up with the rest of the group and headed back to the hideout to talk about what we think of the teachers.

"I can't believe none of them even look like they want to be there!" I said. "They all look depress and sad."

"I know," Katy told us. "And the way they all have the same tone in their voice. I feel like I'm in a library with people who are reading a dictionary!"

We laughed because that's exactly how these teachers were. They're classrooms were so quiet and gloomy, that it felt kind of weird. I just hoped that it might get better once we really started to get into the year. As the weeks went by, the feelings of the rooms and teachers stayed the same. When we finally hit the day before Halloween, they started to decorate more in the rooms, but it still felt depressing.

"Man," I said to the group once we were back in the hideout. "I can't believe nothing had changed!"

"Yeah," Gemm said. "It's like, sad."

"I just can't wait to go in my costume tomorrow," Katy said. "Since both me and my twin are going as kitties!"

"How cute!" Fern said. "I'm going as a witch."

We then shared what we were going to be. Then they came to me.

"I'm doing a pirate," I said. "Both me and 'Nathan' are going together."

"That's cool," Gemm told me. "For your first Halloween together, it's kind of cute."

"Shut it!" I said. "Remember what I told you…"

"Oh, sorry," she apologize. "I forgot."

We then laughed a bit and went home to get ready for tomorrow. I couldn't wait to get all dressed up in my epic pirate costume and go with 'Nathan', who was going to be the captain. All of the Creepy pastas are going as pirates in their disguises so we can form our crew. I then headed off to bed and went to sleep.

The next morning, I got dressed in my awesome costume and headed downstairs for breakfast. After that, I got my school gear and headed out the door. I met Gemm on the way there, and she was in the cutest dog costume that I've ever seen.

"OMG, Gemm," I said. "I love the costume!"

"I like yours too," she told me. "I heard that all of out extra-ordinary friends are going as pirates, and 'Nathan' is the captain."

"Yeah," I laughed. "It's going to be awesome."

The whole day was fun, despite the teachers and the rooms. After school let out, I headed to the mansion to meet up with them. I saw them in the backyard, and their costumes were looking awesome.

"Ah," I heard 'Nathan' say. "There's our pirate princess."

I giggled as I entered in. 'Nathan' was wearing a huge captain hat and had a fake parrot on his shoulder and an eye-patch.

"Your costume looks awesome," I said. "And I'm not a princess!"

"Fine," he said, laughing. "Have it your way."

I laughed along with him, and we set out to grab candy. It went really nice, and it was fun as well. Having the big group made me feel like I had a lot of friends, which I did! We got so much candy that I though I could do the Jell-O pool again, only fill it with the loot we got!

"We're going to have fun trading this year," I said. "Oh, and pranking Jewel is going to be fun, too."

The guys obviously knew about why we prank her, but they let us do it this year. I was just going to pop out from behind a tree again, but this time Gemm is going to show me where I needed to be. As we went back, we were just chatting and enjoying all the candy we got.

"Now," I told them. "All we need is a boat!"

"Yeah," 'Fred' said. "That would be nice. Couldn't we just use your car for that?"

"I'm not ruining my car!" I said. "Though, it would be cool…"

"Nah," 'Greg' said. "It's not worth it."

As we came into the cave, I saw the others there.

"Quick," Gemm told be. "Let me show you where to hide before Jewel gets here."

She then took my hand and dragged me out into the woods. After placing me behind the tree, she told me to wait.

"Okay," I said. "But be quick this time!"

It only took about 20 minutes before I heard them coming and I jumped out.

"AHHH!" jewel screamed, then laughed. "You got me guys!"

We then laughed as we walked her back, but then something felt off. I then looked behind me and saw a shadowy figure.

"Uh, Gemm?" I said. "I think we're being followed."  
The girls then both looked back, and saw the figure, too. We began to run, and we saw darts shooting at us. We were screaming until we ran into the hideout. After rushing to tell the guys, we boarded up all the entrances. I then hid behind the beanbags and waited. We all heard the banging on the entrances, and then we heard mumbling. I was as still as a tree, not moving an inch. I was so scared that I thought the person was going to burst right through the entrance. After a minute or two, the person left and we opened the entrances.

"Okay," Zack said. "Let's all agree that no one is safe now. Those hunters are serious business, and if we want to deal with them, we have to be careful."

"Cautious, too," 'Nathan' said. "I mean, anyone could be shot with one of those darts. I know I did, and it's not fun!"

"Dang," Gemm said. "I didn't know you got shot.

"It didn't do anything to him," I said. "Or at least not yet. But, to you guys, it might even kill you, which is why we have to be careful."

"Or just careful around you," Zack said.

"Just what are you saying?" I asked him.  
"I mean," he began. "They're only after you and 'Nathan', so I think we should keep a far distance away-"

"No," I said. "That's not how we're going to play it. They can come after you, too!"

"I don't know, Crystal," Katy said. "He has a point."

"No he doesn't," 'Nathan' finally stepped in. "If they're going to get info on us, they're going to head strait for you guys, which is not good, since you're all Proxies, too."

I even forgot that they were all marked, but that doesn't matter. All the mark means to them is that they're friends of Slendy. My mark gave me powers because I'm the blue Proxy, which is totally different, but any Proxy will come in handy for the Proxy hunters. I tried hard not to fight with them, but it was no use. They wanted their own safety, and it's like they didn't care about 'Nathan' or me. Finally, the both of us left with the other Creepy pastas and ran for the mansion. When we got in, I just shook my head.

"Can you believe them?" 'Luke' said. "They think we're the ones putting them in danger, but really they are, too."

"I just think they're paranoid," I told them. "They're never like this."

"I think they're scared to be hit," 'Nathan' said. "I should've never told them that I was."

"No," I said. "You were smart in telling them that. It's a good thing that they're scared, since now that they can be more careful."

After a while in the house, I decided to go home. When I did reach my house, I quickly got my costume off and got in my PJ's. I then just went to rest on the couch and relax. I didn't want anyone to bug me, nor did I want to bug anyone else. I sighed as I watched the screen on my T.V. and had Zimmy lay on my lap. I smiled at the little cat, happy that he was always there for me.

"I can't believe they would say such things," Zimmy said after I told him what happened.

"Yeah," I said back. "Well, it was Zack who said it, and I doubt that he'll be in our group much longer. I think he's loosing interest in us."

"Too bad," the cat said. "He was never like this before. What made him change?"

"I don't know," I wondered. "I think it's the fact that I don't want to be with him."

"The poor guy," he said. "I guess he'll just have to deal with it."

I smiled as the cat curled up with me. He did know how to make me smile, but I still felt bad that we were going to have to lose a member. _Oh well,_ I thought. _You can't change people's minds._ The rest of the night I wrote more music and posted some online. I then searched up funny pictures on my laptop and went to bed. The next few weeks went fast again until it was already November. After I got out of school that Friday, I realized it was snowing. The weather was supposed to be like this from now on, and I just smiled. I went into the hideout, only to find 'Nathan' have a ton of darts in his back.

"What the-" I began to say.

"Stupid Proxy hunters," he said. "They found the mansion."

"Great," I sarcastically said. "Now, lets get these out of you!"

After pulling each one out, I tried to see what they are.

"These are different ones," I said. "They aren't the same as last time."

"Can you tell what they are?" he asked.

"No," I said. "But they don't look promising. I would watch out for pain, since you had a lot of them in your back…"

"I can't dodge them," he told me. "These were shot out of a different gun, too. They were flying fast then the others."

"I just hope they don't do anything to you," I said. "Otherwise, that would be horrible."

He then smiled at me and I made him lay down. It was the only thing I could think of that would help him. I then told the others in the group to get out of the hideout, and they all went back to the bus hideout to chat. I stayed right by his side, since I knew I had to. All I did was make sure nobody bad came to us again, and eventually he felt better and got up.

"Now," I said. "We defiantly have to be careful now, especially if they got new ammo."

"Yeah," he said. "We do have to be extra careful. And now that there's snow, we have to watch with our footprints, too."

The rest of the day we just chatted until I had to go home. As I was walking home, I realized that I was sneezing a lot and coughing.

"Oh, great," I sarcastically said aloud. "Now I'm sick. This is just 'wonderful'!"

I then went strait home and got myself a nice cup of hot tea. Once Zimmy realized I was sick, he grabbed the medicine for me right away.

"Dang it!" I said. "Now I have to stay in!"

"It's not too bad," the cat said. "It's only a little cold, so it won't take too long for you to get well."

Well, we only thought it was a cold. Apparently I got the flew, and I knew that I had to stay in for a while. I just slept the whole week until I heard something hit my window. As I walked up to it, I saw the tiny pebbles hitting it. I opened the window and found Jeff in my backyard.

"What are you doing?" I said.

"We have a problem," Jeff said, and he looked behind him at the fence that led into the woods. "Something's wrong with Slendy."

"Did he get hit by darts again?" I asked.

"No," He yelled. "I think he got hit my too many darts the last time when you took all of them out of his back. I don't know exactly what they did to him, but I think he has a huge memory loss."

"Oh crap," I said. "This can't be good. How much can he remember?"

"From what I can tell," Jeff told me. "He thinks we are still killing people and attacking kids again. If we don't do something fast, people are going to die!"

My eyes widen as I realized that this is a huge deal. If Slendy is killing people, he can wind up back in jail or kill one of my friends. I quickly got dressed and started to head down when Zimmy stopped me.

"And where do you think you're going?" he asked.

When I told him what happened, he said "Oh, no. You're too sick. You have to stay in."

"But-" I tried to say.

"I'll help Jeff. You just need to relax," the cat told me, and I went back in my room.

I then decided that I can't let the two go on their own and went out, anyway, all bundled up in a warm coat and scarf.

"You're crazy," Zimmy said. "You're going to get even more sick."

"I rather be more sick then have someone get killed," I said through the scarf, and pushed it down.

The wind was kicking up as we went through the forest. I felt sick to my stomach as we went, and I just hoped that we can find Slendy soon before anything can happen.

"Okay, now where could he-" I started to say, but I stopped when I heard the sound of breathing behind me. "Oh, goodness, don't tell me-"

I then made the biggest mistake in my life and looked back, and there he was.

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

_The Confession_

"Oh my-" I began to say, and I ran back into the guys behind me.

As soon as Zimmy turned into 'Ricky', he shot Slendy with a laser.

"Don't hurt him!" I cried.

"What else am I suppose to do?" he said. "Battle him one-on-one?"

All Slendy did was just stand there, but his tentacles were fighting us as if they were fingers going after food.

"Ah, crap!" I said as one inched towards me.

_What the heck do I do now?_ My mind thought. _I guess jog his memory back? Yeah, that'll work!_ I then began to hum the tune to the music box, and I did it loudly.

"This is no time for singing!" Jeff said.

"Hang on," 'Ricky' told him. "She's on to something. That's the music the music box played. She's doing things to make him remember! That's it, Crystal, keep humming!"

I hummed louder and louder until I was sure that the whole forest could hear. I kept my eyes shut as I did this, and only took a peak once to see if anything had changed, but he was still the same. I then began to do more things, like disappear and make some things levitate, but nothing worked.

"Better kick it up a notch," I told the guys as I began to make the flaming snow appear.

But even that didn't work. I tried to remember the lyrics to his song he made up. As I was singing that, I saw some progress as the one tentacle inching towards me inched back a bit. But, it then shot out and grabbed my leg and holds me up, making static flying around my face.

"Don't you remember?" I tried to say. "Don't you remember me? I'm your blue Proxy! My name is Crystal Janis! Do you hear me?"

I was saying a whole bunch of things to try and make him snap out of it, but it didn't work.

"My father was one of your Proxies," I told him. "You told me how he passed. Don't you remember? We met last Halloween when I got lost. You save me from many things. I can't imagine what my life would be like if I haven't met you!"

That's when the tentacle drop me, and I tried to run back, but another one picked me up.

"C'mon!" I said. "You took me to California, for goodness sakes! We were on the Ferris wheel when we did the countdown to my B-day!"

"Try to tell him something only he would know," Jeff said.

"Like what?" I asked.

"I don't know," 'Ricky' said. "Is there anything you can think of that you have only told him?"

I then started to talk about Gemm and Jeff. I told him how they used to make fun of us for thinking that we're more than friends and how they were jerks.

"Hey!" Jeff said. "Okay, first off, I didn't start the bet. Second off, we're not jerks!"

"What am I suppose to do, then?" I asked. "What we said, we said, and that is that!"

He then shrugged, and I started to have static in my face again.

"Okay, um…" I tried to think. "Remember how you told me how you got Zimmy?"

"Wait," Jeff said. "He never told us that. Even Zimmy doesn't remember that one, for he was a kitten back them."

I then realized that I was having the right idea. I told him about what he told me. I remembered about his school days he used to tell me about and how it sucked and rocked at the same time. I then started to cough and get sick again.

"Oh, great," 'Ricky' said sarcastically. "Now she's going to get sick even more!"  
"Please," I begged the man in front of me. "Please remember, please…"

I then took out the crystal around my neck.

"You gave me this. Do you remember that? This helped me find out that you were 'Nathan' at the prom. You wore the same outfit you have on now!"

I began to laugh, remembering all the good times I had with him. I never realized how great of friends we really were.

"I even broke you out of jail!" I said. "And you still don't remember that?"

I felt like I was going to cry, but I held myself together.

"Try something else," Jeff said.  
"What else is there to try?" I asked. "Nothing's working. I don't know what else to do."

I shed a tear or two because I couldn't hold it in too much. The grasp did loosen a bit when this happened, and I looked up,

"How can you forget me?" I asked him. "How can you? I've probably been one of the greatest friends to you. Heck, I don't care who you are on the outside. What matters is what's on the inside, I think. Now, c'mon! Let me go, Slendy!"

Nothing happened. As the grip got tighter again I just shed another tear. My friends behind me wached, until I coughed again.

"Um," Jeff said. "I'll try something…"

He then tried to make him drop me by getting his attention. It did work, and as I fell to the ground, I then turned into a tiger so that it was harder to grab me.

"C'mon," I shouted at him. "You don't remember me? You have to! You stopped killing a while back. You let me become a Creepy pasta myself. Now you lost your mind! I want you back, Slendy! I want the real you back!"

I saw him take his gaze off Jeff and stare at me. I felt like he was going to say something, but nothing came. I just had a little stare down with him until I found words to say.

"I'm one of your best friends," I finally said. "Can't you see that? Don't you see my mark?"

I showed the mark on my arm, and something clicked. He grabbed me and looked at my arm more. I thought I heard the light whisper of the word "Proxy" from him, and I nodded my head.

"Yeah,' I said. "I' a Proxy, don't you remember?"

The grasp got looser and looser. I smiled as I was gently put down.

"Okay," I said. "Now, let me think. Uh…"

I guess he then forgot everything again, because he grabbed me again.

"What did I do?" I asked. "Oh, man. I think we're dealing with more than just memory loss!"

'Ricky' and Jeff just stared at me, realizing that I was right.

"What do we do?" Jeff asked.

"No," 'Ricky' said. "It's what does _she_ do. It's Crystal who has to do this, for she's the only one who can do this."

I tried to think of something, and fast.

"Oh, c'mon Slendy," I said. "You have to remember this. Don't you know me? You've been one of the greatest friends ever!"

The grip loosens and I realized what I had to do.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm one of your friends. The Birthday gift you gave me was amazing…"

"Whatever you're doing," Jeff said. "It's working! Now keep it up!"

"Uh," I thought. "And you're always there besides me! Why, I don't know what I'd do if you weren't there."

"Wait a minute," 'Ricky' said, and changed back into Zimmy. "Master, it's me, Zimmy! You've been such a great owner to me!"

The grip kept getting looser and looser. I smiled at the eyeless man and I realized that it was working.

"Okay," I said. "Do you remember?"

The grip tightened a little bit more, and I realized that using 'remember' was making it worse.

"Okay," I said. "Never mind, then. I want you to say my name."

I plead this over and over again.

"Do you know who I am?" I asked again for the fourth time.

I got no reply. I was starting to get scared. _What if he never comes back?_ I thought. I erased the thought from my mind and kept thinking of other ways to get him back.

"You were always the one to keep me guessing," I said. "And that's what I enjoyed. It was so much fun trying to figure out whom you were. I'm still guessing if I can get you back."

I tried not to be scared, but it was hard. I wanted to close my eyes and scream, but that will only make it worse.

"C'mon, Slendy," I said. "Don't leave me hanging!"

But there I still hanged. I wasn't only hanging on to a tentacle, but I was hanging on for dear life. If I don't get him back to normal soon, someone is going to die, and it could be me. I tried to keep myself together, but I couldn't figure out how.

"What do I do?" I asked the cat and the other friend. "I don't know what to do! I'm lost without him…"

The grip loosened again, and I knew that the game of 'guess and check' was becoming annoying. I was making progress, though, but I needed to do something, and fast.

"I don't know," Jeff finally replied.

"I don't know, either," Zimmy replied as well.

"So, I'm just going to hang here?" I asked.

"Try something," Zimmy said. "It's better than nothing!"

"Uh," I started to say, and the two hid in the tree. "Okay, thanks for leaving me hanging!"

I looked back at Slendy again, who was expressionless and scary as ever.

"Okay, okay," I tried to calm myself down. "Uh, I'm blank."

I felt the grip tighten around my ankle, and I knew I was done for.

"I don't want to die," I began to chant "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

All I could do was cry then. I knew that it was probably over. I braced myself for the worse to come.

"You've always been a great guy," I said. "Heck, one of the best guy friends I ever had. Please, please don't do this!"

The grip loosened, and I knew I was doing something right.

"This is the first time I was grabbed by one of these," I said, pointing to the tentacle. "You never did this before…"

The grip loosened, and I knew that I was saying the right words.

"You've always been a great friend," I said. "Always. We never fought, never argued, and this is the first time I had ever done something like this with anyone…"

At this point, I had no idea what the heck I was saying. I felt like it was running out of my mouth like water running out from a waterfall. It kept coming, and coming, and coming.

"You know what," I said. "I think that Gemm and Jeff were right…"

I then felt like my heart was about to explode when I said this, and I didn't want to take it back.  
"Slendy, please," I was literally balling my eyes out. "I love you…"

I stared right into his face as I said this, and I felt so sick. The grip let me go, and I landed face flat in the snow. Then, from being so sick, everything went black.

**Chapter Twenty-Seven**

_The Death of Crystal Janis_

Okay, this whole next part of me when I blacked out is from what my friends told me. So, apparently my confession snapped him out of it, and he realized I was really, really sick. He then turned back into 'Nathan' and carried me all the way to the hospital. When I woke up, I saw only Gemm and 'Greg'.

"Where am I?" I asked when I woke up.

"Oh, thank goodness," Gemm said. "You blacked out in the snow. And I'll have you know that I told ya so!"

"Huh?" I asked. "The last thing I remember is… Oh."

After realizing what Gemm is talking about, I smiled.

"Okay, okay," I said. "You were right. I was panicking, of course, since I didn't want to die…"

"You were hard to carry back," 'Greg' said. "After blacking out in the snow… Jeesh, what were you thinking coming out when you're sick?"

"I did it, though, didn't I?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Otherwise one of us would've been killed."

"Hurt," I corrected him. "You can't die, remember?"

"Well," he said. "Yes and no. We can be killed by certain things."

"You tell me this NOW?" I tried to yell. "Why not before?"

"We didn't want to scare you," he said. "That was our agreement with 'Nathan'."

"By the way," I said. "Where is he?"

"He'll be here soon," Gemm said. "He went down to get coffee."

"Of course he did," I sarcastically said. "I got him addicted to that stuff. I hope he brings me some…"

They just laughed.

"Good to see you still have some humor in you," 'Greg' said. "Though, you're going t be here for a bit…"

Eventually, 'Nathan' did come in, and he did bring me coffee. I smiled, seeing him. We all chatted for a bit until my mother came in and everyone else from the group.

"We have a full house in here," 'Nathan' joked.

"Yeah," I said. "We do…"

"What were you thinking, Crystal," my mother said. "Are you crazy?"

"No," I said. "I did it for him…"

I stared at 'Nathan' who then looked out the window, but I could tell he was blushing.

I just smiled. I explained what happened, but left out the part about my confession.

"Gee," Kat said. "That must've been intense…"

"Yeah," Katy joined in. "What did you say that got him back?"

At that point, I was screwed. My mind was blank at that point, and I couldn't tell them right now, otherwise it'd be pretty embarrassing.

"Uh," I said, and tried to sit up, but my head started to spin. "My head hurts too much to remember."

All I got was a weird look from 'Nathan', and I knew he caught on. I then realized he remembered everything and I started to blush.

"Never mind," Katy finally said. "But whatever you said must've been really emotional."

"Uh…" was all I could manage to say.

We then kept talking until finally I had to get some rest. When I woke up again, it was just 'Nathan' and I alone in the room.

"Oh, good," he said. "You're up."

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"You were out for two days," he said, laughing.

"I was?"

"Yep," he said, then shook his head. "Out cold for a while."

We began to chat again until finally Gemm came in.

"Oh, there's my two lovebirds," she joked.

"Oh, shut up!" I said.

"You know it," she said. "Anyway, got you some coffee."

She handed me the warm cardboard-covered cup and I took the lid off to let it cool.

"Thanks," I said. "I need a good cup to wake me up in the morning. So how long do I need to stay here?"

"Another day at the least," she said. "Or until you're 100% better."

I just moaned with grief as I sipped the hot drink. At least it perked me up a bit and I was not as sleepy as I was.

"The coffee from this place is so good…" I said. "It's so yummy…"

_What am I saying? _I thought. _It's like I can't think and talk at the same time!_ I must've been too sick to really think of anything else to say, so I just rested back in the bed.

"Nice, nice bed…" I sleepily said. "What am I saying? Am I really that sick?"

"Sickness will do that to ya," 'Nathan' said. "I witnessed it too many times with 'Greg'."

I laughed a bit at that thought, and I couldn't stop laughing. I eventually had to cover my mouth with my hand to stop myself.

"Okay," Gemm said. "You must be **really** sick. Get some rest…"

I then fell back into the pillow and closed my eyes. If I had known it'd be the last time I'd see my friends for a while, I would've refused. As I was sleeping, I realized something. I felt me chest, but nothing was moving. I wasn't breathing at all, and my figure was ghostly.

"What the…" I said as I lifted my hand.

_Okay, am I dreaming? This has to be a dream…_ I thought, but it wasn't a dream. I wasn't in the hospital bed anymore, but in one of my favorite outfits and was lying in a beautiful meadow. My hair was all combed out and had a big, blue bow in it, just like the one I wore when I was little. I sat up, feeling no pain at all. I looked around the meadow and saw a huge oak tree in the middle of it. I got up from the soft ground and realized that my feet were almost see-through, as well as my hands.

"Um, anyone there?" I asked, but I said it without moving my mouth.

I ten felt something on my back, and I realized there were big, white and gold wings attached to me. _Wings? _I thought. _Oh great. I can't be dead! I felt no pain whatsoever. Maybe it's just a dream…_ But nothing was a dream, for I could obviously feel everything. I ran strait towards the big oak and hugged it, feeling the rough bark.

"Oh, honey," I heard a voice say, and I turned around to see a man. "I haven't seen you in forever…"

I looked closely at this man and I realized something. My eyes widen as I ran up and hugged him, happy that I was finally reunited again.

"Daddy…" I whispered.

"Yes, it's me, darling…" he said. "This is heaven…"

_Oh crap! _I thought. _Though I'm happy, I feel sad inside. I can't be dead. I just can't be dead! What about all my friends? What about Gemm, the twins, the girls, the guys, and, most importantly, what about 'Nathan'?_

"I know you miss your friends," I heard my father say. "I know you miss them a lot. They miss you too. They're trying to save you right now…"

"They are?" I asked.

"Don't you feel it?" he said.

I did, actually. I felt myself breathing again. I felt my wings disappear and my figure turn back into a full form. The meadow began to disappear as I said goodbye to my father. Then, everything went black.

"What happened?" was the first thing I said.

"Oh, thank goodness," I heard a voice say.

"You brought her back!" I heard another voice say, whom I picked out as Gemm.

"Wha-" I tried to say, but my voice wasn't there.

"You won't be able to talk for a while," I heard my mother say as my vision became clear. "And neither will some of your friends."

I realized that my hand was being held. As I looked over, I saw 'Nathan' standing right there. I tried to speak, and then remembered I couldn't.

"They gave up their energy," Gemm said. "It brought you back to life…"

I smiled, since it was the only thing I could do. I didn't want to go back to sleep, since I didn't want to die again. I just listened to the stories of what happened while I wasn't 'there'. So, apparently, all the Creepy pastas gave up their energy so that I could live again. Now they're stuck in their disguises for a while until they can regain it again. Even 'Ricky', 'Kyan' and Smile gave up theirs. I was so happy that I was crying, and I was laughing, too.

"We're glad to have you back," my mother said. "What did you see?"

I was then handed a pencil and paper to write what I saw. I wrote everything from what I wore to whom I saw. When they read this, they were shock.

"You saw your father?" Kat asked, and I nodded.

"That must've been emotional," Gemm said, and she hugged me. "At least I will know what happens when I die…"

I was glad that I could give them comfort and relief, but I was still pissed that I couldn't talk for a whole day. When I got out that day to go home, I just rested on the couch right agents 'Ricky', since he was stuck like this now.

"I don't know what I'm going to do about you," my mother said to him. "I never had a pet before who could be a human as well, so I guess you can sleep in the guest room."

He nodded s that it showed he was fine with it. I then ran upstairs to write this whole story on what happened when I died. I then posted it out and said that it was true, but couldn't tell some things since that would give away that I'm a Creepy pasta, which is not good. I couldn't believe all the reviews I was getting for a five-paged story. I then wrote some more music and continued some others, and went to bed. When I woke up, I was so happy to get my voice back, and so was 'Ricky'.

"I still can't believe that I even died," I said. "I mean, it wasn't scary, but it was unusual and sad."

"Well, we're just glad you're okay…" 'Ricky' said. "And sleeping like a human wasn't fun, either."

"Wonder how 'Nathan's' doing?" I wondered.

"Oh, since you two are in love now, I guess," he said. "That was a big surprise for both me and 'Greg'."

"Surprise for me as well," I told him. "For I didn't realize it until that moment…"

"I'm sure you've known it for a long time," he said. "But you just kept refusing it."

"Really?" I asked. "Is that how it works?"  
"Sometimes," he said. "Other times it doesn't. Depends on the person…"

It sucked having to stay in for three days and do make-up work, but at least when I went back, everyone was calling me the 'angel girl' in the school.

"Wow," Gemm said. "You rise from the dead, and now you're an angel!"

"I know," said back. "And popular, too."

After school that day we headed into the hideout. I met some of the guys there that helped me come back, and then I saw 'Nathan'.

"Oh, hey…" I said as I came over. "Just wanted to thank you for this…"

"Thank me?" he said. "Oh, you're welcome. It was nothing, really…"

I knew right away he was blushing. I was blushing as well once Gemm came over.

"Oh, kiss already!" she said.

"Gemm!" I yelled at her. "What's your deal?"  
She then giggled and went back towards 'Greg', 'Luke' and 'Fred'.

"That was awkward," I finally said. "What's her deal anyway?"

"Beats me," 'Nathan' said. "She now thinks we're… um-"

"I know," I said, blushing. "Wanna go outside and just have fun in the snow?"

"That'd be nice," he said, and we rushed out the cave opening and into the freezing cold.

We then made a snowman together and started throwing snowballs at each other. We laughed as we were having a ball, just like when we were 'just friends'. I smiled at him after we finished the little snowball fight and we sat down by the tree that was the same tree from the Christmas party. We began drawing pictures in the snow and having a fun time until we looked at each other.

"So," he finally said. "Did you really mean all those things?"

"What?" I asked. "From when you lost your mind? Of course I did! Why wouldn't I?"

"So," he slowly said. "You really do-"

"Does this answer your question?" I asked, and I kissed him on the cheek.

"Yep," he said, blushing a ruddy color. "Yep it does."

We then drew more stuff in the snow until we decided that it was too cold to stay out and we headed back in the hideout. Once Gemm grabbed me to the side, she was smiling like a hyena.

"I saw it," she said. "I saw you kiss him!"

"So what?" I asked. "I watch you do it all the time with 'Greg'."

"But this is different!" she said.

"How?"

"First off," she said. "He's like, the most famous Creepy pasta ever! Second, the guy is awesome no matter what form he is in! And lastly, he has an awesome personality. So, it's like going out with a really nice celebrity! You've got a lucky pick!"

"OMG!" I said. "You're absolutely right! But I didn't pick him, it just kind of ended up that way."

"Whatever," she told me. "You're going to be one of the most successful girls in our whole group. I can't believe it!"

I smiled as I looked over to 'Nathan'.

"Yep," I said. "I sure am."

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

_Christmas Love Story_

Okay, so now I couldn't wait for Christmas since I had so much I could bring to 'Nathan'. Christmas was two days away, and I couldn't wait! I was going to give everyone pretty much his or her own little stuffie again, but 'Nathan' is going to finally get a special gift from me.

So, when I headed down to the hideout, I helped decorate the little tree that Jack brought down from his attic. I know it's not as lovely as a real tree, but it's a heck of a lot easier to clean up and take care of! I got to put the star on top again, just like last year, and I smiled at the fake, but beautiful, tree.

"So," I said. "How's about we all go caroling now?"

"Sure," Gemm said. "Nothing better to do."

Once we handed out the caroling books from last year, we put on our awesome Santa hats and went from door to door, singing the usual Christmas songs. We got money again, too, and we gave it all to charity.

"Man," I said once we were done. "That was fun!"

"Yeah," 'Nathan' said. "We couldn't have done it any better, unless we had more people."

We all then laughed as we walked back to the hideout. That night we were having that Christmas party again, so we had to set it all up. Once that was done, we then started to see some party guest arrive and we put on some Christmas music to set the mood. At about 6:00 that night, the whole hideout was packed.

"Wow," Gemm said. "This place has more people in it than last year."

"Yeah," I said. "It does."

We began to party like there was no tomorrow. I was having fun with my Creepy pasta friends, and we were pranking the heck out of anyone who was sleeping with the sharpies again. Then, once we pranked about 20 people, we heard a yell from someone who said "LET'S HAVE A SNOWBALL FIGHT!"

That's when we all ran out and took sides. I went with 'Nathan', of course, as we began to fling snowballs at Gemm and 'Greg' on the opposite team.

"They're always an easy target," I said. "Since they never back down!"

"Yeah," he said. "They are!"

After 20 minutes, they finally realized that we were only aiming at them, and they started to throw some at us.

"Oh crap," I screamed. "DUCK!"

We both hid under the fort, not wanting to peak up. This war went on for at least an hour, and then it just kind of died off.

"Oh, man," I said. "This was like, the best party ever!"

"Yep," he said. "I enjoy these parties we always have."

We began to smile at each other, and we didn't look away. I just couldn't look away, since he's now, well, my BF as we call it.

"So GF," he said, since he knows the whole BF and GF thing. "What do you say we ditch this slow fight and head to the mansion?"

"You're on," I told him, and we raced each other there.

We then met 'Kyle' there, or Splendor in disguise, and he just smiled at us. 'Kyle' had the same red hair as 'Nathan' did, but his eyes were greenish-blue and he wore a graphic tee. He also had black pants and sneakers.

"So," 'Kyle' said once we got in the house. "How's my brother doing?"

"Fine, fine," 'Nathan' said, staring down his brother. "And what are you doing here?"

"Keeping the place up," 'Kyle' told us. "I thought I'd do something nice…"

'Nathan' just rolled his eyes and said, "Fine, but let me know next time before you break into my house again!"

"Why don't we just go chill in the basement," I told him, since that was our favorite spot to hang.

"Fine," he said. "But he better not wreck the house."

"I would never do such a thing," 'Kyle' said, and the two of us just walked down into the basement.

"What's with your brother?" I asked. "It's like he got really creepy al of a sudden."

"He's like that," 'Nathan' told me. "Sometimes he had these days…"

"I know what you mean," I said. "My mother's like that too. One day she can be all cheery, but the next day she can be pissed."

We then kept chatting until we decided to head back. We didn't want people to think we were missing. When we did get back, though, everything was fine and dandy.

"Oh, there you guys are," Gemm said once we got inside. "I was looking for you two. We need help with the food."

"Do we have to?" I whined, and Gemm handed us the bag.

"Now go clean up the hideout," she said, and we began to get cleaning.

"This sucks," I eventually said after 20 minutes. "Why the heck are we even doing this?

"Beats me," 'Nathan' said. "Just as long as we do it, it'll be over and done with."

I just moaned and complained as I did it, and 'Nathan' couldn't stop laughing.

"What's so funny?" I groaned. "THIS SUCKS!"

"We're almost done, silly," he said. "See? This is the last pile!"

"Oh," I said once I realized that we only have one small pile to do. "Then let's get this done and over with."

As soon as the whole pile was cleaned up, we then went outside to join the others.

"Here comes the cleaning crew," Gemm said. "What took you guys so long?"

"She can't stop complaining," 'Nathan' said, pointing to me.

"I don't do cleaning," I told them. "It's not my thing…"

"Well," Gemm told me. "Don't be grumpy when I tell you that you're also going to help us clean up more."

"UHHHHHH!" I screamed. "Why?"  
"Because you never do," Zack joined in, enjoying my displeasure.

"You just want to see me upset Zack," I finally said. "And it's just because you want to be my BF, but that's already out of the picture."

"It's true," he eventually said. "But we can still be together, right?"

"Uh, no," 'Nathan' said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Wait a minute," Zack slowly said. "You're not… Oh great, now I'm by myself for good!"

Gemm then hold Zack back from leaving.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked him.

"I can't leave?" he said. "C'MON!"

"Not until you promise not to tell anyone about 'Nathan' and me," I said to him.

"Fine, fine," Zack moaned. "Just let me go!"

"It's fine, Gemm," I told my friend, and she let go to him.

That's when Zack ran off in a hurry, and I told Gemm to go keep an eye on him.

"Now that that's taken care of…" I said, looking at 'Nathan'.

"Oh, you want to have some fun?" he asked. "Well then, let's go mess with them…"

Okay, it kind of felt weird once he turned back into Slendy, since that was the form he was in that I admitted my love for him. He then smiled at me, as we turned invisible to go prank them.

"So," he said. "Let's get Zack first…"

"Agreed," I said, and we followed after him. "Hold it… hold it… and… NOW!"

We then popped out of nowhere, scaring the heck out of Zack. He then fell backwards into the snow, and we had to help him up.

"You took a tumble there," I said. "We scared ya good, didn't we?"

"Yeah," Zack angrily said, and ran away from me.

"Hey, what did I do?" I called after him, confused.

"He's just mad," Slendy said. "And super jealous."

"Exactly," I said. "So screw him. He can be as mad as he wants to be, I'm stuck with you."

We then smiled at each other and Slendy turned back into 'Nathan'. We then walked back to the hideout to just get away from everyone.

"Jeesh," I finally said. "Seems like dealing with friends is hard."

"Not like when I had to deal with Jeff all the time," he said. "For that was a challenge."

"I never understood why you listened to him," I said.

"I was scared myself," 'Nathan' confessed. "I didn't know what was real and what wasn't."

"So," I said. "He scared you into doing all this killing business?"

"Yep," he told me. "It was such a stupid mistake I made…"

"I thought it was Splendor who hooked you two together?" I asked.

"It was," he said. "But I was the one who made it official…"

"Oh," I said to end the thought. "That makes sense…"

We chilled in there until it was about 11:00 at night, and I just had to go home. I went strait to bed, not having a single dream at all. When I woke up on Christmas Eve morning, all I did was packaged 'Nathan's' present quickly so it was still fresh. Since it was a live plant, I had to make sure it didn't die. When I put it back in the refrigerator, Zimmy asked what I was doing.

"It's just one of the presents for tomorrow," I said. "It's for 'Nathan'."

"Oh," the cat said. "I forgot it was Christmas Eve already!"

We went to the hideout together to meet up with the group. Instead of staying in _Slender Hideout_, we went to go decorate the bus hideout with a bunch of Christmas décor.

"This should be fun," I said. "Even thought there will be no tree, it'll still look very Christmassy."

We began to decorate the bus, and I started to but garlands around the doors and holly all over the windows. We then string lights all over the inside and began to put a whole bunch of Christmas window stickers on the bus' front window. When we were done, it looked pretty darn cool.

"Wow," I said. "This looks awesome!"

"Yeah," Gemm said. "Though, do we have any mistletoe?"

"I don't think so," Jeff said. "Though I wish we did."

I smiled a bit as I said, "I think we can do without."

We all agreed on this and just sat around the bus, chatting away and joking around.

"I think tomorrow is going to be fun," I told 'Nathan'. "Since last year was awesome. I mean, your whole gift thing was a real mind trick!"

"I knew it would totally flip you off," he said. "And I thought it would give me away, but you're hard to give hints to without telling you who I was."

We then chilled for the rest of the day, and then went to make a snowman right by the bus. It looked awesome, and it was tall, too.

"Now, let's give this one a name," I said.

"A name for our awesome snowman?" 'Nathan' asked.

"I think this one needs a name," I told him. "I'm thinking of one…"

"How about Kris?" he said.

"OMG," I said. "That's perfect! It's so Christmassy and festive. I like it."

We huddled around our snowman, which was now named Kris, and we smiled.

"I can't wait for tomorrow," I said.

"Me neither," 'Nathan' told me. "I love Christmas as much as I love Halloween."

"Me too," I told him. "Me too…"

"C'mon you love birds," Jeff yelled out the window. "We can't have a party without the captain and his princess…"

We laughed, since the reference was from Halloween. I enjoyed our costumes we did this year, and I regretted nothing.

"Hey," Jeff said as we came in. "Why'd ya name the snowman Kris? Out of all the names, I would've done Jerold."

"You would," I said.

"Why Jerold?" Gemm asked.

"I don't know," Jeff said. "I always thought it was an epic name."

I smirked a bit, but I stopped myself right away.

"Anyway," I said. "What should we do now?"

"Beats me," 'Nathan' told us. "Unless you just wanna prank L.J. and Ben again…"

The two he was talking about were sleeping on the couch, side by side, snoring away.

"Yes," was all I said, and we got out the jelly and markers again.

We did the usual things we usually did. When the two woke up, they were super pissed.

"We got you good!" 'Nathan' and me screamed at the two.

"Get over here!" L.J. called, and we started to run.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap," I kept saying over and over again while Ben and L.J. ran after us.

"Hey," 'Nathan' said to me. "Want me to turn to my normal form and draw marker on their faces while we run?"

"What?" I asked. "Oh, yeah sure…"

As he changed back, he grabbed a sharpie with a tentacle and stretched it out to the two chasing at us. He then began to just randomly scribble on their faces, and we were laughing so hard that my insides were burning.

"Okay," I told Slendy. "Better stop before they-"

At that moment, we had a whole bunch of jelly dumped on us from a bucket in the tree. We both looked up to find Appy there, laughing his head off.

"Aw… Dang it!" Both Slendy and me said, covered in jelly.

"Gotcha good," the apple said, and Ben and L.J. came up laughing at us.

"Now it's Appy's turn," I said, seeing that everyone except Appy was covered in jelly.

"Oh crap," he said, and began to run.

"C'mon, Slendy," I called to my partner. "We have to go prank him…"

"Right behind you," he said, as we raced after the apple.

We eventually got him doused in jelly, and we were all laughing hysterically.

"Okay," the apple finally said. "You got me good…"

We then went to go get cleaned and into cleaner clothing. When we came back to the bus hideout, we immediately began laughing.

"What's so funny?" Gemm asked, coming up behind us.

"Kris is now a Jelly man," I said, pointing at out snowman who was covered in the jelly.

"I pranked him," Jeff said. "Like my masterpiece?"

"Dude," I told him. "This is hilarious!"

"Yep," 'Nathan' said. "Sure is a 'masterpiece'!"  
We then kept joking until we had to go home and get ready for the next day: Christmas! As soon as I woke up, I got the present for 'Nathan' out to become unfrozen. I then opened a couple of presents at home, which turned out to be sweaters and jewelry. As I carried the presents to the hideout, I gave Zimmy his present, which was a new cat toy. He carried it all the way to the hideout, having a bright kitty smile on his face. As soon as I got in, I was receiving and saying "Merry Christmas" so many times that I thought it would mentally get stuck in my head.

"Let's open the presents!" 'Kyle' said, as excited as a kid getting a new puppy.

After each of the presents was opened, it was time for me to give my present to 'Nathan'.

"Let me guess," he says. "Is it a stuffie, too?"

"Nope," I said. "Open it up over here…"

I then dragged him to where I had placed a nail in the hideout for the gift. He then looked confused at me, but I then said, "Open it!"

As soon as he did this, his eyes got wide. He took out the misted toe from the little box, and I hung it on the nail.

"What the-" he began, but he couldn't say any more.

I then leaned over and said "Merry Christmas," and kissed him right on the lips for our first official kiss.

_**The End**_

**Epilogue**

Okay, so you're probably wondering "What happens now?" Well, it then became official that Slendy and I were now GF and BF. I was actually right; being the blue Proxy did mean I was going to fall in love with him, but he didn't want to tell me because he wanted to make sure it came true and that we weren't making it come true. I know that sounds confusing, so let's just say he didn't want us to force each other to be in love, and I'm glad we didn't.

We finally got all the Creepy pastas to go to our school, which is actually awesome! They are so fun to have there, since it makes class time so much fun. The best part about that is 'Nathan' is in every one of my classes! It is so much fun having him sit right next to me in every single class and have us be school buddies. We are also helping them get into collage as well, and I can't wait to write about how that one goes.

Slendy and I also got people to accept all the Creepy pastas as how they really are, so they stopped disguising themselves and they also stopped hiding. Nobody bugs them, though, and we have so much fun.

The Proxy hunters were eventually stopped, too, and they all went to jail. It took pretty much all of the _Slender Group_ and the cops to get them under control. I'm also not being hunted by the police anymore, since we explained to them everything, and they forgave us. They also understood why we broke Slendy out of jail, and they let us go for that, too.

And now, I'm sad to say, the story is officially over. I thank you for reading it and hopefully share it with others. Thank you so much for reading _Slender Adventures: The Blue Proxy_!


End file.
